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Dca esi 



REPORT 



OF THE 

CEREMONIES ON THE FOUKTII OF JULY, 1857, 

AT THE 



failing of tijt Cornerstone 



OF A 

ISr^TIO:N"^I. iSIONXTMENT, 

TO BE ERECTED 

■■' NEAR LEXINGTON, ICENTUCKY, 

TO TUE MEMORY OF 

HENRY CLAY; 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

ORATION DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION, 

BY THE 

Rev. ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, D.D., L.L.D. 



« • 






N, 



Published by tiie QiIax Moxi-ment Assoclvtion; 

1857. 



Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 
In the Clerk's Office of the District of Kentucky, 



r C 
( < < 



fTKKKOTTPKl) AND I'RINTKU BY TUE 
CINCINNATI GAZETTE CO. 



LAYING THE CORNER STONE 



OF THE 



NATIONAL MONUMENT TO HENRY CLAY. 



The ceremonies incideat to laying the Corner Stone of the Clay Monument, 
to be erected in the Lexington Cemetery, took place on Saturday, the 4th of 
July. The time selected for the purpose — the anniversary of the birth of our 
National Independence — Avas well suited to the grand and solemn occasion. 
The day was auspicious — the heavens smiling cloudlessly above the brilliant 
and patriotic display. The business houses and private dwellings on the 
street leading to the Cemetery, were adorned with flowers and evergreens, 
flags, and banners, and streamers ; and the side-walks, windows and house- 
tops, were thronged with men, women, and children, to witness the great 
procession. Captain Boford, the Chief Marshal, with his Staff, superbly 
mounted and caparisoned, had every thing in order by nine o'clock, when 
the line of march was commenced from "head-quarters," opposite the Pha-nii 
Hotel, amid the thunder of artillery and the enlivening music of some four 
or five splendid Bands in attendance. 

The Masonic Fraternity, to whom the ceremonies were entrusted, wer« 
largely represented, and their magnificent regalias added greatly to the 
beauty and splendor of the pageant. The Odd Fellows were also out in con- 
siderable numbers and in full dress. 

Tlie military present consisted of Capt. Coins' Artillery Squad of Frankfort, 
Falls City Guards of Louisville, Guthrie Greys, and Continentals, of Cincin- 
nati, National Guards of St. Louis, Independent National Guards of Indian- 
ajjolis. City Guards of Baltimore, and the Madison Guards of Richmond, Ky. 

The Fire Companies present were the Lafayette and Union Companies of 
Louisville, and the several Companies of Lexington. 

The family carriage, which was presented to Mr. Clay by the Citizens of 
Newark, N. J., in 1833, which was the only one in the procession admitted 
nto the Cemetery grounds, was ornamented with white funereal plumes and 
wreaths of evergreens and flowers. It was occupied by Aaron Dupuy, an old 
negro servant of Mr. Clay, who had been in his service for many years. In 
the back seat was a bust of Mr. Clay, and the engraving of his leave-taking 
of the Senate. 

Long before the procession arrived at the Cemetery, a large concourse bad 
assembled and were in waiting, occupying every eligible point to witness the 
interesting ceremonies. 

3 



Upon the platform near the foundation of the Monument, were the mem- 
hers of Mr. Clays family, consisting of Thos. H. Clay and James B. Clay and 
tlicir fiiniilies, Isaac Shelby and family, and others. 

The follow in<f distinguished gentlemen were observed on and in the 
vicinity of the platform: John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United 
States, Governor Morehead, Senator Crittenden, Hon. James Guthrie, Uou. 
Garrett Davis, Ex-Gov. Trimble of Ohio, Chief Justices Geo. Robertson and 
T. A. Marshall, J. B. Huston, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Ken- 
lucky; Hon. James Harlan, Attorney General; Hon. Richard Hawes; Dr. 
(;reen, of the Normal School; President Bartlett, of the American Council of 
the U. S.; Hon. Oscar F. Moore, of Ohio; Roger "W. Hanson, Esq.; Zophar 
Mills, Esq., of X. Y. ; and the President and Directors of the Clay Monument 
Association. 

The Masonic Fraternity occupied the eaclosure where the ceremoniss were 
performed, while the Military, Firemen, and the rest of the procession, selected 
•such positions in different portions of the grounds as they preferred. 

In the stone was placed a box hermetiically sealed, in a glass jar a history 
i)f the occasion, with the names of the President and Vice President of tlio 
I'nitcd States, the Governor of Kentucky, the names of the Officers of the 
Grand Lodge of Kentucky, and of the President and Directors of the Clay 
Monument Association ; a copy of each of the papers of the city of Lexington ; 
a picture of Cincinnati la 1802, published in the Cincinnati Gazette; also a 
l)archment prepared by the Cincinnati Guthrie Grays, in testimony of their 
appreciation of the man who preferred to be right rather than to be President 
of the United States; a medallion in copper, struck from the die of the Clay 
(Jold Medal, presented by the Clay Festival Association of N'cw York, with a 
copy of all the festive songs and odes sung and read before that Association 
for the last twelve years, and giving a history of that Association ; also a 
beautiful medallion likeness of Mr. Clay, by C. Younglove Ilaynes, Esq., of 
Philadelphia, together with copies of Philadelphia papers from the same gen- 
i'.eman, with coins of the present day, (American), in gold, silver, and copper; 
.■» Bible and other ajticles. 

The President of the Association, H. T. Duncan, Esq., in a graceful manner, 
assigned to the M. W. Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, Mr. 
T. N. Wise, the duty of laying the Corner Stone, and the solemn and deeply 
interesting ceremonies were conducted by him in the presence of the assem- 
l>led multitude in the most imposing and impressive manner. The stone was 
laid to its place, and pronounced by the Grand Master well formed, true, and 
trusty, when corn, wine, and oil, were poured upon it, and the ceremonies 
concluded by prayer. During and preceding the ceremonies, the Newi)ort 
U. S. Band discoursed the sweetest music, and s.alutes were fired. 

After laying the Corner Stone, the procession was re-formed and proceeded 
to the Fair Grounds, where the address was to be delivered. The vast am- 
phitheater was filled to repletion, with the gathered beauty, intellect, and 
worth of Kentucky. A spectacle more brilliant and beautiful has rarely 
Maddened the eve or heart of the most enthusiastic. The gay colors of the 





splendid dresses of the women, intermingled with the immense crowd of 
sturdy men, were picturesque iu the highest degree; the whole bright circle 
was like to a rich garland of flowers, overhanging the area of green below, 
where the military marched and countermarched. The music was as fine as 
vver thrilled a soldier's heart, or lent enchantment to a fairy scene. The 
movements of the troops within the circle upon the green, 

" With waving arms and banners bright," 

surrounded as they were by the beauty and chivalry of the State, presented 
;» grand and stirring s{>cctacle, and aroused the most generous and ennobling 
emotions. When the great crowd had become somewhat settled, the Band 
struck up the national air of the Star Spangled Banner, in a style more 
thrilling and touching than any we had ever heard. The fine toned instru- 
ments seemed to breathe the very words of the truly beautiful and stirring 
?oug, and inspired a deep and enthusiastic feeling of patriotism, pride, and 
pleasure. 

After prayer by the Rev. E. F. Berkley of the Episcopal Church of this 
city, the orator of the day, Rev. Ro. J. Breckinridge, D. D. was introduced 
to the crowd by H. T. Duncan, Esq. The speech of Dr. Breckinridge was 
alike worthy of the great Statesman in gratitude for whose public services 
this magnificent ovation was gotten up; to the occasion itself which had 
drawn together the largest assemblage of the free citizens of our common 
<ountry that had ever taken place in the West, and to his own reputation a.i 
one of the most chaste, classical, and eloquent speakers of the age. It was :i 
noble tribute to the life and servic-es of Kentucky's most distinguished dea^i 
son, by one of her greatest living sons, and was alike worthy of both. It 
was not to be expected that any considerable number of this vast concourse? 
of people could hear this oration ; no man was ever gifted with sufficient 
jKiwer to have made himself heard by such an assemblage; but the few who 
did hear it were delighted with this great, effort of a master mind. We are 
gratified to announce, however, that Dr. Breckinridge's speech is to 'oe shortly 
presented to the public in an enduring form, as a just tribute to him to whos^ 
memory this work of gratitude has now been dedicated. 

After the speech, dinner was served up, on the tables prepared in the shade 
for the purpose, to strangers, while those from the more immediate surround- 
ing country, had basket pic-nics on all parts of the ground. 

At 4 o'clock the military were reviewed by Governor Jlorehead, and this 
was probably the most beautiful display in the wliole proceedings of the daj.-- 
The military occupied the hollow on the city side of the Fair Grounds, whik 
the inmiensc concourse of spectators, men, women, and children, occupied thr 
green sloping hill a little beyond, commanding a full view of the evolutions 
of the troops. The wind being favorable, every note of the splendid music 
of the Newport Band, which played alone during the review, was borne full 
upon the car of all present. — The glittering armor, waving plumes, aud tlie 
wonderful precision of the movements of the troojvs, presented a scene of 
true grandeur, and one well calculated to inspire enthusiasm and make the 



pulses fly. The whole hill side, full length, was covered with gaily dressed 
ladies, men, and children ; and with the fine military display in the valley 
below, presented a picture of unusual splendor and beauty. This closed the 
regular proceedings of the day. 

" Such honors llion to her hero paid, 
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." 

A more brilliant Fourth of July it has never been our good fortune to 
enjoy, and we can geared}' hope to see such another. Every thing went off 
ijuietly and in the best order. 

To the gallant Captain Buford, who conducted the affair, many thanks are 
due for the able and soldierly manner in which he bore himself throughout, 
and for the general satisfaction he rendere<l in the discharge of his arduous 
duties. 

The monument, some 120 feet in hight, is to be built of the magnesian 
limestone of this State, which resembles very much the famed Caen stone of 
Normandy, and is a column modeled after the Corinthian style of architecture, 
consisting of a stereobate, pedestal base, shaft and capital, the whole sur- 
mounted by a statue of the Statesman in bronze. 

The stereobate, or sub-base, some 20 ft. in height, and 40 ft. square, is in 
tlie Egyptian style, plain and massive, and has Us appropriate cornice of very 
simple character throughout its whole circuit, broken on each side around, a 
projecting facade in the same style, but of more elaborate finish. In the 
centre of the southern face is an entrance to a vaulted chamber, of the 
dimensions 12 by 24 ft., and 16 ft. high in the centre, lighted from above by 
heavy plate glass fixed in bronze frames in such manner as to be unseen from 
without. The chamber is of polished marble of Kentucky, appropriately 
finished as a receptacle for sarcophagi, and, if desirable, a life size statue. 
The opening is closed by a screen of bronze. The remaining space within 
the sub-base is a closed vault, access to which is had by means of a door- 
way, ordinarily closed with masonry. 

Above the stereobate or sub-base is the pedestal of the column, divided 
horizontally into two members, each with its base and cornice. The lower 
one is 8J ft. in hight, and the upper 14 ft. in hight. The faces of both 
members of the pedestal are in sunk panel, to be filled ultimately with bas 
reliefs, in bronze, if desirable. 

Above the pedestal rises the shaft, which, with the base and capital, is 
09 feet in hight. The lower diameter being 6 feet 8 inches, and the upper 
5 feet 10 inches, built solid. The shaft, instead of the ordinary 24 flutes, 
with their intermediate fillets, is composed of a cluster of 13 spears (one for 
each of the "Old Thirteen"), the heads of which of bronze, interlaced and 
grouped with corn leaves and appropriate national emblems, form the capital 
of the column, conformable, in outline and proportion, to the best example* 
of the order. On the abacus of the capital rests an acroter of broiize, of a 
parabolic contour, and formed of ash and ivy leaves, serving as a pedestai to 
the statue. The latter to be 12 feet in hight. 



COKRESPONDENCE. 



Litter from the Preiident of the United States. 

W'ashisgton, 13th June, 18o7. 
Mr Dear Sir : 

I have received your kind note of the Gth instant, with an invitation from 
the Committee to be present on the 4th July next, at the Keying of the corner- 
stone of the monument to the memory of Henry Clay. 

I can assure you I should esteem it a high privilege to witness the interest- 
ing ceremony, and deeply regret that the pressure of public business renders 
this impossible. I knew Mr. Clay well for many years before his death, and 
although we often differed on political questions, I always admired his lofiy 
patriotism, his high and chivalrous character, and his commanding eloquence. 
He has well deserved the monument his fellow citizens are about to erect to 
his memory; because his life has added lustre to his country. It has 
strengthened the bonds of that Union which he so dearly loved, and furnishes 
a noble example as well as a precious legacy, to the future generations of his 
countrymen. Yours, very respectfully, 

H. T. Duncan, Esq. ' JAMES BUCHANAN. 



Letter from Ez-President Fillmore. 

Buffalo, X. Y., June 26th, 18o7. 
HoK. H. T. Dr.vcAK, 

Sir : — Your letter of the 8th instant, enclosing an invitation from the Com- 
mittee to be present in Lexington on the 4th of July, at the deeply interesting 
ceremony of laying the corner stone of the National Clay Monument, ar- 
rived here during my absence, and this must be my apology for any apparent 
neglect in answering it. 

I can not be insensible to the honor you have done me by this invitation, 
and as a friend and admirer of the deceased, nothing could be more gratify- 
ing than to be permitted to unite with his neighbors and countrymen in lay- 
ing the foundation of that monument which is to attest a nation's gratitude 
to one of its noblest patriots and most gifted statesmen — but I regret to say 
that my engagements are such that I am reluctantly compelled to decline the 
invitation. 

With many thanks for the honor of being remembered on this most in- 
teresting occasion by my friends in Kentucky, and to yourself, personally, 
for the very flattering manner in which you have been pleased to communi- 
cate their request, and 

With sentiments of the highest regard, I am truly yours. 

MILLARD" FILLMORE. 



Letter from lion. Edward Everett. 

Boston, 2Gth June, 1857. 
Dear Sir: — On my return from the West a short time since, I found on 
my table your obliging letter of the 30th of May, with the invitation of the 
officers of the " Clay Monument ^Association,'' to attend the ceremonial of 

7 



8 

laying the corner-stone on the ensuing 4th of July. It would have affordtd 
me the highest satigfaction to be present on an occasion of so mucli interest, 
and to listen to a speaker of such distinguished aljility, as the gentleman 
who is to deliver the oration. But a series of eugagcments to repeat my 
address on '"Washington"' in this quarter, will prevent my leaving Massa- 
chusetts. 

I entertained the highest respect for the patriotic character and life-long 
•services of Mr. Clay. I have often felt the transcendent power and charm 
<)f his eloquence; and I enjoyed for years the privilege of his personal 
:u:quaintancc, and I may venture to add of his confidence. For these rea- 
sons, I hope you will allow me to add my mite toward the noble work you 
are about to erect 

AVith uiy best wishes for its successful prosecution, and assurances of 
friendly personal regard, I remain, my dear sir, sincerely yours, 

H. T. Duncan, Esq. EDWARD EVERETT. 



Letter frovi Jared Sparks, Esq, 

Cambridge, I'jth June, 1857. 

My Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 30th of May came duly to hand, enclos- 
ing an invitation to me from the Committee of the Clav Monument Assooia- 
tion, to be present at the ceremony of laying the corner-stone on the 4th of 
July. Allow me to express through you, to the Committee, my best acknow- 
ledgments and thanks for this kind mark of their attention. 

My recollections of the personal qualities of .Mr. Clay, my knowledge of 
his character and of the great services rendered by him to his country, 
would alike conspire to give me a very deep interest in uniting with those 
who will be assembled on that occasion to pay so just and honorable a tribute 
to his memory ; but my destiny turns me in another direction. I expect to 
sail in two days with my family for Europe. We shall probablj' be absent 
about a year. I can only express my best wishes, therefore, that the events 
of the day may be as auspicious as the oliject is worthy of applause, and that 
(he iVssociation will meet with ail success in carrying out their noble under- 
aking. I remain, my dear sir, sincerely your friend, 

Heury T. Duncan, Y^^. JARED SPARKS. 



Letter from lion. Wm, A. Graham. 

HiLLSBORo', N. C, June 20ih, 1857. 
<;ektlemen: 

1 very sincerely regret that I cantiot l>e present at the ceremony of laying 
the corner-stone of the Clay Monument, in Lexington, on the fourth of July, 
agreeably to your invitation. 

The occasion, however, will command my ardent sympathy. Henry Clay 
w:ts so extraordinary <a character in American history, that a public monu- 
ment is not only due, as a memorial of his illustrious life and service to the 
Itcpublic. but as a memento of his jiatriotic teachings, and an incentive to 
I he emulation of his noble example. For near half a century, that he wa? 
"•onncctcd with our national allairs, scarce any thing of moment was trans 
acted, in which he did not bear an eminent part. Entering the halls o: 
Congress when the men of the Revolution were yet in full vigor, and in the 
luaturitv of thvir faculties, he diil not finally depart iVum them until their 
•,'rand-childrcn h;id largely p.irticipatcd in the j)ublic counsels. 

Yet in the conllicts and comiietitions of three generations of statesmen, 
(many of them unsurpassed in any age or nation,) liis position was through- 
out conspicuoiis and commanding: and never at any period challenging so 
genera! .'in apjiroViation as in the sunset of his career, in 1 849-50, whiMi. t>>! 



the third time, he gave peace to a distracted country. Admired always for 
genius and eloquence, frankness and courage, he is most missed from the 
public service, in his enlarged patriotism, his devotion to the Constitution 
and the Union, his wisdom and conservatism, and capacity for control. Am- 
bitious, doubtless, with the weakness of noble minds, envy and the spirit of 
faction found no place in his breast: and though disappointed in his aspira- 
tions after power to do good, he breathed no sentiment of disloyalty to the 
Government, nor did "his soul contrive against his country aught." Though 
the boldest of men, he cut no Gordian knots with the sword and prescribed 
dismemberment for no disease of the body politic; but with a wisdom equal 
to every emergency, he met events as they arose, adapted his means to the 
<'uds to be accomplished, and overcame every difliculty without transcending 
the legitimate powers of the Government. la diplomacy and foreign inter- 
course, while keenly sensitive to the national honor and interests, he yet re- 
garded war but as an agency for acquiring honorable peace, the enjoyment 
of which was so essential to the growth and development of the nation, nnd 
the permanent prosperity and happiness of the people. 

His monument, therefore, is a monument to the grandeur and progress of 
the country during the first half of the nineteenth century — to national sen- 
timents, and loyalty, and love to the Union, according to the true theory of 
the Constitution — to American genius and character, of which no man was 
ever a more true delineation and representative. 

Let it rise, upon the beautiful plains of his beloved Kentucky — middle 
ground in the territories of the great Republic, but may the solitary in- 
fluences of his noble and generous sentiments, and extended and purified 
patriotism, be diBused by it from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore. 

Repeating my regrets, that I am unable to unite with you, in the imposing 
<'eremonies of the day, I am, Gentlemen, with great respect, 

Your obed't scrv't, 

WILL. A. GRAHAM. 
To Messrs. II. T. Duncan, Benj. Gratz, Horace B. Hill, Henry Bell, Thoma? 

A. Marshall, 



Lttter from lion, Iloicell Cobb. 

Washington Cnr, June loth, 1857. 
Gbntleme.v, 

It would give mc sincere pleasure to accept your invitation to be 
present at the laying of the corner-stone of the Clay Monument, on the 
4 th of July next, if my official engagements would admit of it. Being pre- 
vented, however, from attending, I avail myself of the opportunity to ex- 
press my cordial concurrence in the motives which have induced this testi- 
monial to the worth, ability, and patriotism of the man whose memory is 
thus to be commemorated. It was my lot to enter public life at the time .Mr. 
Clay was playing his last part in the political drama rendered so remarkable 
by the association of his name and services. I had been taught to look 
upon him as the formidable and dangerous enemy of the political faith in 
which I had been reared. It is not strange then that in the ardent tempera- 
uient of young manhood I should have regarded him as one not entitled tr) 
Tuy generous confidence. Under these circumstances my personal association 
with Mr. Clay in public life began. The time was the memorable session 
of 1849-o0. The struggle which marks that era in our history is yet fresh 
in the memory of every one who participated in it. Mr. Clay wiis a promi- 
nent actor in the scene. My official position not only enabled, but required 
me to observe with anxious solicitude the progress of ever}- measure con- 
nected with the adjustment of those questions which then so immediately 
tlireatened the peace and integrity of the Union. I was thrown thereby into 
more intimate association with him and others who bore a conspicuous 



10 

and controlling part in the scene, than, under other circumstances, I shoalJ 
have been. It was then and there that I first learned the true character of 
this p:reat man. Discarding the prejudices of former years, and forgetting the 
differences which had separated him from the political party with which 1 
had always been identified, I witnessed, with no ordinary satisfaction, the 
zeal, energy, and power with which he labored to restore peace to a distracted 
country, arid give stability to the Republic. Whether agreeing with, or dif- 
fering "from him in the propositions which, from time to time, he presented to 
the vSenate and the country, I felt impressed with his ability as a statesman 
and his sincerity as a patriot. Whatever criticisms may be made upon the 
political life of Mr. Clay, it may be truly said of him, that he loved his country 
with a freedom from simulation or hypocrisy that admitted of no question, 
and a devotion that never faltered in its service. No word of mine can add 
to his stature, or increase the regard in which his name and character are held 
by his countrymen, but I claim the privilege, on this appropriate occasion, 
afforded by your partiality, of uniting with them in the expression of sincere 
regard for his memory as the ablest of statesmen, and the purest of patriots. 

I am, very respectfully, rour obed't serv't., 

HOWELL COBB. 
Messrs. H. T. Duncan, Bcnj. Gratz, Horace B. Hill, Henry Bell, Thomas A. 
Marshall, Committee, Leiington, Ky. 



Letter from lion. R. C. Winlhrop. 

B0.STON, 2yth June, 1857. 
Gentlemen: 

I have the honor to acknowledge your obliging invitation for the approach- 
ing 4th of July. 

It would aflbrd me the highest gratification to witness the imposing cere- 
monies with which you are about to lay the corner-stone of a Monument to 
the great orator and statesman of the West. I should take peculiar interest 
in listening to a fresh eulogium upon his career and character from the flow- 
ing and gifted speaker who has been selected for the occasion, and I should 
count myself fortunate, indeed, if I might add my humble tribute of admira- 
tion for the many noble qualities of which Henry Clay was so long the 
living embodiment. 

Engagements at home, however, leave me no further hope of being with 
you, and I can only offer you my grateful acknowledgments for your kind 
remembrance of me, and my cordial sympathy in all the emotions of pride 
and of patriotism which will be excited by the occasion. 

The Lexington of Kentucky, like the Lexington of Massachusetts, will 
more and more become a place fur the pilgrimage of all who delight to recall 
the great events and the great men of our history, — and I trust that some of 
us, who are deprived of the satisfaction of seeing the laying of the corner- 
stone, may find an opportunity of visiting the Monument after its "top-stone 
.shall have been brought forth with shouting." 

I am. Gentlemen, with great respect, your obliged and ob't serv't., 

ROB T C. WINTHROP. 
H. T. Duncan, Esq., and others. Committee. 



Letter from Erastus Brooke, Esq. 

New York, June 29, '57. 
Dear Sir: — 

In answer to the very kind letter addressed, through me, to "the Henry 
Clay Festival Association," to be present at the laying of the corner-stone of 
the Clay Monument on the 4th of July, I have the honor to say that your in- 
vitation has btcn most gratefully accepted. 



11 

It will not be in the power of tlic Association to iitlend a,^ an orpani/Ation, 
nor will any large number of nicinl)ers be present as Delegaten, but I may 
-say, without pretence or afl'ectalion, that the hearts and sympathies of our 
wiiole body will be with you at Lexington on this interesting occasion. 

It is the privilege of Kcutuckians to retain within their own iionored C'om- 
iuunwealth all that is mortal of the distinguished dead. The dust of the one 
mingles with the soil of the other. And in addition to all this, from tiic 
beautiful Cemetery of your hosj)itable city, there will rise a noble column. 
not only pointing out the dwelling i)lace of the dead, but in its lofty elevation 
teaching present and future generations to aspire to imitate the patriotism 
which it commemorates. Yours, indeed, is a great privilege, — but we of New 
York, and Mr. Clay's countrymen evcry-wherc, feel that all have a common 
share in the fame of one whose genius, stretching far beyond his native land, 
was a.s boundless as humanity itself. 

We are reminded by our meeting this evening, that just five years have 
passed this day since Ilenry Clay died at the Capitol of the Nation, but pass- 
ing years and days only seem to teach us that we honor one who was the 
bright particular star of his time and country. 

We send j'ou some memorials of our Association, making up a part of the 
incidents of its history during the twelve years past, and in the hope that it 
may be convenient to deposit them beneath the monument, and near the cor- 
ner-stone which is to be laid under circumstances so imposing. 

With very sincere regrets that it will not be in my power to be with you 
in person on the 4th of July, 

I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, your friend, 

ERASTUS imOOKS. 
In behalf of the Henry Clay Festival Association 

Henry T. Duncan, Esq., President Clay Monument Association. 



Letter from lion. Ilenry Wilson. 

Natick, Mas3., June 20, 1857. 

GSSTLEMEN : 

I have received your very kind invitation to be present on the occasion of 
laying the corner-stone of the Monument which a grateful people are to raise 
to the memory of the Orator and Statesman. It would afford me the most 
sincere gratification to unite with the people of Kentucky, on the lovely spot 
where rest the mortal remains of Henry Clay, in laying the foundation stone 
of the Monument which shall rise to mark the place of his last repose. It 
was my good fortune, but a few weeks ago, to visit his home, and to stand by 
his grave, and I can assure you that, if it was in my power, I would gladly 
go from Massachusetts to Kentucky to unite with you, on the 4th of July, in 
beginning, with appropriate ceremonies, the pious work of erecting a memorial 
to the memory of a Statesman who so largely influenced the public affairs of 
this country and age. Yours trulv, 

HENRY WILSON. 
To Messrs. H. T. Duncan, Benj. Gratz, H. B. Hill, Henry Bell, and T. A. 

Marshall. 



Letter from lion. Percy Walker. 

Mobile, June 20, 18o7. 
Ge.ntlemen : — 

Your letter, inviting me to be present at the laying of the "Corner-stone of 
the National Clay Monument" at Lexington, on the 4th of July next, has 
been received. 

It is proper that Kentucky should pay such an honor to the memory of her 
most distinguished citizen, to one whose genius and eloquence have Bhed 



12 

upon li«r so muoli lii?tre — whose statesmanship was known and acknowledged 
of all men, and whose name is one of the lew that will not die. 

I regret that my engagements are such as to prevent my being present 
u|K)n an occasion so suggestive of national pride — so interesting to those wlio 
regard the lives of such men as Mr. Clay as affording the best illustration of 
ihe e.xcollenc-c of our llepublican system. 

Whether on the hustings, where men were to be swaj-ed by stirring clo- 
•pu-nce,, passionate appeals, or cogent reasoning — in the Courts, in whose calm 
l>i-ecincts. cold logic was needed, or in the Senate, where "high argument' 
was held, he was equally at home, coercing from all the acknowledgment of 
his great powers, and winning admiration for his knightly bearing, his won 
• Irons elo(iuciiec, his undaunted ctnirag^ and sincere purpose. 

Kentucky holds his ashes. l)ut his fame forms a part of our national rrinown. 

.Vgain, regretting my inability to accept your iuvitalion, 

I am, re.«pectfully, your obt. servant, 

PERCY WALKER. 
Messrs. H. T. Duncan, Benj. Gratz. II. B. Hill, Henry Bell, and T. A. Marshall, 

Committee. 

Lettf-T from lion. Javx's A . Stnrart. 

CvMBKinGE, Md., June 24th, 1857. 
To Messrs. 11. T. Duncan, and others: 

Dkak Sir: — Allow me to express my jirofound acknowledgment for the 
honor \-on have conferred upon me, by your kind invitation to be present on 
?li« "grateful occasion" of laying the corner-stone of the \atioua! Clay 
Momunetit, at I-exington, on the ensuing 4th of July. 

{ h;ive long clwrislicd an .ardent desire to view that highly ftwored portion 
of our common Country, interesting, not only on account of the beauty of its 
scenerj and fertility of its soil, but absolutely halhjwed by the association? 
<-onnected with the'domiciliary scenes of the illustrious and world-renowned 
patriot. Such a theater must always be memorable and inciting to every 
lover of his country; especially upon such a "deeply interesting occasion" 
.IS you projKise, woiiid a visit be intensely agreeable to me; but, gentlemen, 
I must fonego the participation, as it is out of my power to attend. 

The fame of Henry Clay is immortal, and it requires no lal)ored edifice to 
peqietuate his name, but it is ever grateful to our feelings, to perform a pa- 
triotic service. The very day you have designated is peculiarly appropriate 
for such a glorious and devotional enterprise under all the circumstances th.it 
mark the ])Tesent era in the country's history. 

1 hope all the incidents of the day and the occasion may conspire to impart 
additional interest to tlie consecration of our glorious Anniversary, and give, 
rf possible, brighter lustre to the escutcheon of all our p.atriol saints. 

Very trulv, vour ob't scrv't, 
■ .lAMES A. STEW^\RT. 

Letter from lion. Justin S. Morrill. 

Stkakford, Va., June 26, 1857. 

Dk.\.r Sirs; — Your invitation to 1)C present at the lime selcctcil, the 4tii of 
Jnlv, to lav the Corner-Stone of the National Clay Monument, at ix-xingtoii. 
Ky,", has l)een received, and while I feel that no occasion would give me a 
snore hallowed jilcasure— paying a tribute, as I should, to the memory of the 
idol of my boyhood, and chief in manhood — 1 shall be compelled to forego it. 
:md acceitt other and le.s.s grateful duties. 

In the muster-roll of great names which our whole country love«, and 
which it should be taught to love, there is not one which commands the suf- 
frages of more hearts than that of the gallant Kentuckian, who would '-r.ather 
be right th.ij) be rresidenL" It was a leading characteristic of him, that- 



13 

whatever his head suggested, and heart approved, found a courageous utter- 
ance. Certainly the whole nation apj)rove3 of your design, and in it,> present 
hands it can not be tardily executed. It is cuiiiiently fitting tluit Kentucky 
siiould lead, as well in sorrow for his irreparable loss as in honor to his 
memory, by raising a monument worth}' of him who has elevated the clia- 
racter, not only of his own State, but of thi; Nation, as an luator, statesnaan, 
diplomatist, and above all as a man. 

Very respectfully yours, 

JUSTIN 8. MORRILL. 
Messrs. H. T. Duncan, Pienj. Gratz, Thos. A. Marshall, &c., of the Clay Monu- 
ment Association, Lexington, Ky. 



Letter from lion. Aaron V. Brown. 

Washington, June 22d, 18G7. 
Gentlemen : — 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of j-our invitation to be 
present at the laying of the corner-stone of the National Clny Monument. 

The day — the place — the orator selected, and most of nil the m.nny Nn- 
tional Associations which cluster around the great name which that Monu- 
ment is to bear, will truly make it a '-deeply interesting and grateful occa- 
sion.'' 

For nearly half a century the giant-names of America have been those of 
Jackson, Clay, Calhoun, Adams, and "Webster. Around them parties have 
been formed and jiolitical battles have been fought, with a .-kill and fortitude 
never surpassed. But they have all now gone down to the grave. The 
vehement pa.«sions have subsided which a noble and generous rivalry for 
fame and the advancement of their country's good had engendered, and no\v 
a grateful and admiring country is building monuments to their memory. 

Three of them died at the Capitol, exhibiting, in their exit, the moit s\\i)lime 
and instructive moral spectacle ever presented to their countrymen. A spec-, 
tacle of noble and generous confidence in each other, notwithstanding the 
wide differences of opinion which had separated them through their lives. 

When the dead body of Mr. Calhoun, the first of this great trio who de- 
parted, was borne into the Senate Chamber, among the crowd of Senators 
who assembled to pay the last sad tokens of respect, you saw the tali and 
maniy form of your own great Statesman and Orator, you heard and felt the 
touching tones of his elocjuence, when advancing and standing over the mor- 
tal remains of his great compeer, he exclaimed: ".Mr. President, I was his 
'senior in years — nothing else. According to the course of nature, I ought 
'to have preceded him. It has Iteen decreed otherwise: But I know that I 
■shall linger here only a short time, and shall soon follow him. And how 
'brief is the jjcriod of human existence allotted even to the oldest among 
'as! Sir, ought we not to profit by the contemplation of this melancholy 
■occasion? Ought we not to draw from it the conclusion, how unwise it is 
'to yield our.selves to the sway of the animosities of jiarly feeling? How 
' wrong to indulge in those unhappy and hot strifes which too often exas- 
perate our feelings and mislead our judgments in the diseharge of the high 
'and responsible duties which we are called on to perform. " 

Excellent, noble .sentiments ! When did a Nation ever stand in greater 
need of such counsel ? We can well imagine that we almost hear his com- 
mands to us as we rear his Monument, to engrave upon it fur the i)enefit of 
all his countrymen, this motto, — '-Let your virtues, not your passiops, be 
immortal. " 

The prophecy of Mr. Cla}-, " I, too, shall soon follow him, ' was not long in 
its fulfillment. 

On the 1st day of July, 18-")2, the mortal remains of .Mr. Clay were borne 
into the same hull and surrounded by very nearly the same Senators, whp, 



14 

one by one, imitated the great example which he had set them only two 
sliort years before. One of his ablest opponents, Gen. Cass, who had fought 
perhaps, more pitched battles against him than any one else on the stage of 
action (save, perhaps, Mr. Benton,) came forward, and whilst gazing upon 
liis inauiinate remains, exclaimed: "Another great man has fallen in our 
land, rijie, indeed, in years and in honors, but never dearer to the American 
peojile than when called from the theater of his services and renown to that 
tinal bar where the lofty and lovely must all meet at last. But he has passed 
lieyond the reach of human praise or censure, and his name and fame will 
be proudly cherished in the hearts of his countrymen for long ages to com 
— yes, ihey will be cherished and freshly remembered when these marbl 
rolumns shall themselves have fallen, like all the works of man, leaving 
their broken fragments to tell the story of former magnificence, amid the 
very ruins which announce decay and desolation." 

The portals of the tomb had but just closed upon the remains of Mr. Clay, 
lx.'tore they were opened to receive those of Mr. Webster, who, though breathing 
his last not at the Capitol, but at his own favorite Alarshfield, received for 
his virtues and his talents the profoundest homage from those who, during a 
long life, had differed from him in opinion. 

These three examples of doing justice to political opponents, of which Mr. 
Clay's was the first, and perhaps the most salutary in its influence, ought 
never to be lost sight of. No reference to them can be too frequent, no de- 
scription of them, however imperfect, can be too often attem])ted. If dirt'cr- 
ences in political opinions are to grow into enmities, and these enmities are 
to last forever, then it is no infidelity to say, that man was made for war and 
havoc, and not for the high purposes of enlightened Christian civilization. 

But I forbear. Official duties at the Capitol will forbid my presence, and 
I must be content to send you the assurance, that although absent in person, 
my spirit will mingle freely with yours on the great occasion, in paying the 
highest honors to the genius, eloquence and patriotism of Henry Clay. 
I am, very truly, your ob't serv't, 

AARON V. BROWN. 
To Messrs. II. T. Duncan, Benj. Gratz, and others. Committee, &c. 



Letter from lion. J. Morrison llarris. 

B.\LTiMonE, June 27, 1857. 
Gentlemk.n : — 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation to attend 
upon the ceremonies incident to laying the corner-stone of your proposed 
Monument to Henry Clay, on the 4th of July, proximo. 

1 ilo not know any thing of a public national character from which I would 
derive more pleasure, than such an occasion, occurring as it does, at the old 
home of the immortal man whom it is intended to honor, and thus sur- 
rounded with a.ssociations of deepest interest. It may well be said of Henry 
('lay, that he needs no monument to perpetuate his great fame in the 
memory of the American people, his career of illustrious services being 
memorial enough ; but I can readily understand with how much of pride 
and salisfiiction the people of Kentucky, as of the country at large, will 
always contemplate the Monument which you propose to associate with his 
name. 

I greatly regret that business engagements will deprive me of the pleasure 
of witnessing your ceremonies, and wishing you the greatest success in your 
undertaking, I have the honor to be. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. MORRISON HARRIS. 
Messrs. H. T. Duncan, and others, Committee, Lexington. 



15 

Letter from Hon. Win. D. Lewis. 

PUILADELPHIA, July 1, 1857. 

Gks'tleuen : — 

The possibility of my being able to avail myself of your invitation to be 
present at the imposinj^ ceremony to take place on the 4th inst., of laying 
the corner-stone of tlie National Clay Monument, at Lexington, hcs induced 
me to delay till the last moment apologizing for my necessary absence. 

Believe me, I yield to this necessity with sincere regret, having been 
honored from early life with the friendship of the great Statesman, in 
remembrance of whom you are about to assemble, and whose name and 
services are the common property of his country. His public acts and 
beneficent }K)licy are known to the Nation, but the frankness of his nature 
and nobleness of his heart were known to me as they could have been 
known to but few, even of his immediate fellow-citizens. It would have, 
tJierefore, been to me a melancholy satisfaction to have witnessed the initia- 
tory proceedings towards rearing a Monument, which may for a time be a 
visible memento of the illustrious deceased, although, however stable it may 
be, it will be long outlived by his fame. 

With great respect and regard, 
I remain, Gentlemen, 

Your friend and servant, 

WM. D. LEWIS. 
Messrs. H. T. Duncan, B. Gratz, IL B. Hill, Henry Bell, and Thos. A. Mar- 
shall, Committee, Lexington, Ky. 



Letter from Bon. Thos. L. llarrui. 

Petersblrcj, III., June 23d, 1857. 
Gkxtleme.v : — 

I thank you for the invitation you have given me, to attend the ceremony 
of laying 'the corner-stone of the "National Clay Monument." Nothing 
could afibrd me greater satisfi\ction, than to be jjresent on such an occasion, 
and join in bearing testimony to the eminent talents and patriotism of that 
wonderful man, 

I was not originally a political friend of Mr. Clay; but co-operating with 
him in the passage of the adjustment measures of 1850, and sharing his ac- 
quaintance and confidence during that memorable struggle, all antipathies 
were forgotten in admiration of his patriotism and eloquence, which never 
were more conspicuous than during that season of public peril. From that 
time forward, no one has entertained lor Mr. Clay, or his memory, higher 
regard than myself, which I shall manifest, if in my power, by being present 
on the da}- you have so properly chosen to inaugurate your memorial, which, 
however siilcndid or enduring it may be, cannot, in these respects, equal his 
fame, or adequately bear testimony to his public service. 

I am your obedient servant, 

THOS. L. HARRIS. 
Messrs. H. T. Duncan, Benj. Gratz, Horace B. Hill, Henry Bell, Thos. A. 

MarshalL 



Letter from Hon. Jacob Broom. 

Philadelphia, June 30, 1857, 

Gr.MLEUE.N : — 

I regret that existing engagements will deny me the pleasure of accepting 
your kind invitation to be present on the 4th day of July ne.xt, at the laying 
of the corner-stone of the National Clay Monument. 

Although absent, 1 may nevertheless be permitted to express the great 
pka£ure I experienced in witnessing those emotions of patriotism and na- 



16 

tional pride which lead the Americaa people to commemorate the public 
virtues of our eminent and illustrious countrymen. It is, indeed, the pulse 
which indicates the health of the nation; for when that pulse shall beat but 
ft-ebly, it Mill be an evidence of impaired vigor, if not of constitutional de- 
cay. On the other hand, a lively and grateful recollection of the character 
and services of those who have devoted the best energies of life to the wel- 
fare of their country, imparts a healthful vigor to the body politic, and 
animates with noble impulses the spirit of its members. 

In common with my countrymen, especially with those assembled on this 
interesting occasion, I hail with pride and delight this manifestation of a 
people's gratitude to the memory of an able and devoted patriot, who, by his 
ardent love of country, and fervent zeal for its welfare, has rendered his 
name immortal. Yes! give to his memory a Nadonal monument, for he was 
himself an ornament to the Nation. With a spirit fur above the mere affairs 
of party, he could join the immortal "Webster and Calhoun in laying their 
hearts "upon the altar of their country, and, in forgetfulness of party, with 
the incense of patriotism, dispel the clouds of danger whith lowered over 
our National Union. 

"Honor to his Mkvory, Pkace to his Ashes." 

Yerv respectfully, vour ob't serv't, 

' ' JACOB BROOM. 

Messrs. II. T. Duncan, Benjamin Gratz, Horace B. Hill, Henry Bell, Thos. A. 

Marshall, Committee of " Clay Monument Associatiou." 



AN ORATION 



TO COMMEMORATB 



HENRY CLAY; 

DELIVERED IN THE AMPHITHEATRE OF THE FAIR GROUND, 

AT LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, 

ON TUB 

OCCASION OP LAYING THE CORNER STONE 

OF THB 

|I;itioiuil Chii Hloiuinunt, 

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF JULY, 1857. 
BY ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE. 



PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION: 

IN AID OF THE MONUMENTAL FUND. 

1857. 



ORATION. 



My Countrymen: 

It is by no choice of mine, that, bent under the 
infirmities of advancing age, and enfeebled by the ravages 
of protracted suffering, I stand here to-day to discharge a 
duty I have not been permitted to decUne. Five years 
ago, when the remains of Mr. Clay were brought back to 
us, they who had in charge the solemnities of that occa- 
sion, hardly excused my utter inability, from physical pros- 
tration, to discharge a duty similar to this. There were 
personal and there were public reasons, there were consid- 
orations made sacred by ancesti'al ties, which forbade me, 
all unfit as I am, thus doubly urged, to refuse what powers 
are left me, to this gi-eat occasion, — this last testimony of 
the generation to which I belong, and of my own people 
amonsrst whom I dwell. We have done all that morfcils can. 
One line upon the base of that monument whose founda- 
tion we have this day laid, will express our finished work. 
Inscribe upon it, A Grateful Country to her Great 
CmzEN. 

It only remains that I attempt to anticipate the judg 
ment of posterity. Let us throw ourselves forward intc 
coming ages, and mingle our thoughts with the thoughts 
of our children's children, and strive to make articulate 
that great and distant award. It is the lot of man to be 
forgotten ; the lot even of gi'eatness to be obscured, as name 

19 



20 

after name is added to the roll which envelops all genera- 
tions. As the eager footsteps of our race advance, and 
the Past recedes further and further, mankind can cherish 
only the gTeatest names ; and even these rather in their 
■vital spmt than in the minute record of their achievements. 
Here, to-day, by the unanimous judgment of the living 
generation, we are dealing with a name which cannot be 
forgotten. But let us respect the necessities of posterity, 
the very weakness of humanity, the inexorable demands 
of time, nay, the very nature of fame itself It is not so 
much the particular acts of the most illustrious man, as it 
is the man himself, that distant generations can appreciate. 
It is the sum and spuit of a gi'and career, and not its 
separate parts which after ages cherish. Nor is it even the 
man and the career considered of themselves ; high as he 
may have risen, and long and glorious as it may have been, 
that can justify the highest judgment of posterity. The 
temper of the age in which he lived, and the manner in 
which it affected him, and he conti'olled it ; the point at 
which he startled — the difficulties he surmounted — the ri- 
valry he overcame — the ends at which he aimed — the 
means by which he wrought ; the theati'e on which he act- 
ed — the spu-it of his whole course — the tenor and influence 
of his life, — all, all must pass that high and just ordeal, 
and must incur that iiTeversible decree, after which alone 
is enduring fame. If our applause shall be the echo of the 
applause of distant generations, the gi-and condition is, that 
it must be the truthful and impartial result of a scrutiny 
like this. Every gi-eat thought is imperishable ; but it 
must be supremely great to abide forever in its separate 
form. Every great name is a part of the influence which 
pervades all generations; but its light must be transcendent, 
to abide singly and in its distmct glory, as ages pass away. 



21 

Henry Clay was born in the county of Hanover, near 
Richmond, the Capitol of the ancient Colony of Virginia, on 
the 12th day of April 1777. He died at Washington 
City, the Capitol of the United States of America, while 
serving as a Senator fi-om the commonwealth of Kentucky 
in the national Congress, on the 2 9th day of June, 1852. His 
pubhc life, from his commencement of the practice of the 
law till his death, lasted about fifty five years, far the gi'cat- 
er pai-t of which was passed in the service of his country; 
— a public life hardly matched in its duration and splendor 
by any other in our annals. He lived a little over seven- 
ty-five years ; three quarters of a century more fi-uitful in 
events, or more decisive in their influence upon human so- 
ciety, had hardly occurred in the history of mankind. Be- 
hold that fliir hau-ed Colonial child, born in obscurity ; and 
then behold that majestic d}dng sage, with the eager gaze 
of many millions of freemen fixed upon him ! Behold the 
glorious life which lies between these two periods ; and then 
behold the period of the world's history covered by that 
long life ! An inheritance, as he said himself, of indigence 
and ignorance, resulting in every form of gi'eatness to which 
his eflbrts had been du'ected, and in unquestioned pre-em- 
inence as the first citizen, the first parliamentary leader, 
and the first Senator in the world ! An existence whose 
commencement witnessed the first uphea^ings of the nation 
initseariiest struggle for a new andfi-ee life; whose progress 
ran parallel with the mighty progress of the nation itself, and 
with events unprecedented in their force and efiicacy, which 
shook all other nations ; and whose mortal close rested 
upon a universal state of human affau-s, and upon abroad 
and settled glory of his own people, as widely diflerent 
fi-om the condition which his birth had witnessed, as his 
own humble inflmcy dilfered from the splendor of his ma- 



22 

tured triumph. It is a period and scene of things, in 
which it was no common fortune to live and act. The time, 
the actors, and the events, are such, that there is glory 
even to have partaken with them. How much more to 
have risen, and been maintained by the love and venera- 
tion of a gi'eat people, in a position of habitual if not chief 
influence in such an era ; and leaving it only to enter upon 
a higher state of being, to leave behind no single man 
qualified to take his vacant place ! 

It was about eight months after the Continental Con- 
gress had issued from the city of Philadelphia, the immor- 
tal Declaration of Independence, in the name of the people 
of the United States, that the pious wife of a faithful and 
laborious Baptist minister, far off in Virginia, gave bu"th 
to her seventh child. Another being added to the innumer- 
able multitude whose common lot it is to come, and go, and 
be forgotten. A little ckcle of loving hearts accepting a 
common but yet precious boon, one more pledge to occupy 
theu" lives. How were they to conceive that God had be- 
stowed upon them so gi'eat a gift ? How could any mortal 
suspect, that herein lay concealed a force which at the end 
of three quarters of a century should be felt wherever ti'ue 
gi'eatness was revered, — a spirit whose mortiil influence 
should surmount the grave, and diftiise itself for good over 
many generations ? And yet it is impossible to conceive 
that any training could have been more thorough and 
complete than that which the scenes, the events, the asso 
ciations, and the employments, through which he passed 
during his whole life, furnished for the development of the 
great nature and gifts of this wonderful man. The lan- 
guage which he learned to speak, was replenished with the 
divine truth which pervades a christian household, and 
with the fervent patriotism of a whole people strugghug 



23 

against odds too great to be counted, for ends more sacred 
than life itself The fii-st words he understood were words 
which sunk into his heart for ever, — Country, Liberty, In- 
dependence. The first names he heard beyond his father's 
thi-eshold, were names that will live for ever, — the name 
of his neighbor Henry, the prince of orators and patriots, 
—the name of his feUow-Vh'ginian, W.\siiington, the first 
of mortals. As he was taught to know those who lived 
and died around him, he was taught at the same time the 
nature of the sti'uggle which raged so fiercely. Such an 
one had borne himself bravely in the deadly peiil ; such 
an one had triumphed gloriously, and such an one had 
fallen still more gloriously ; such an one had given all she 
had to her country, and though her heart was broken she 
did not repine. And as his quick intelligence sought be- 
yond the Hmits of his own cii'cle, and beyond the hmits 
of his own commonwealth, to know his whole coiuitiy and 
its people, it was still by means of imperishable names and 
deeds, that his spuit opened to them all. This is Bunker 
Hill, — ^the earth shall melt before its name can be forgot- 
ten : this is Charleston, and this is Eutaw, and this Bran- 
dywine, and this Monmouth, — all glory to their heroic 
names : this is King's Mountain, and this is Saratoga, and 
this is Yorktown, — and lo ! our oppressors have bit the 
dust. And this loud acclaim, bursting from the gi"ateful 
hearts of a free people, and swelling in solemn unison over 
a redeemed Continent, and this gi'eat shout of trium})h. 
make articulate to his young heart, that Country, and 
Liberty, and Independence which he had learned before, are 
but other words for Patriots, Heroes, and Sages ; that tri- 
umph is but another name for God's blessing on the riglit ! 
Such was the earliest training of this chikl, born of 
English parents in the middle condition of Ufe, both of 



24 

whom were descended from early emigTants to the colony. 
One gi-eat domestic incident marked this period ; he lost 
his father when he was about four years of age. Who 
that has not tried can tell the perils and sorrows of any 
orphanage, and more than any, one of indigence? And 
yet it is most wonderful how signal is the care of God for 
the bereft seed of his own childi'en, and how marvel- 
ously fi-equent is his choice of such, as instruments of the 
gi-eatest works he accomplishes through human hands ? 
In this case it is not hard to understand how^ the relation 
of such an orphan boy to such a widowed mother, situated 
as they were, and passing through such a period, must 
have been productive of the most impoi-tant eflects upon 
his character. And it is easy to see how such a condition 
would make more striking every special interposition of 
Di\ine Providence, in behalf of one springing from an 
estate so destitute, and led by ways so unusual, and yet so 
efiective, to an eminence so gi-eat, so early, and so lasting. 

The second period of Mr. Clay's life commenced with 
his removal to Uichmond, w^hen he was fourteen years of 
ao-e He had received but three years' instiTiction at 
school ; nor had he advanced flirther than the simplest 
elements of knowledge, during this comparatively short 
period, under the insti'uctions of Peter Deacon, of whom 
little is known except that he was the only teacher of 
Henry Clay. He was now placed by Captain Henry 
Watkins, whom his mother had married, in the store o 
Richard Denny, of Puehmond. At the end of a year 
Pcter Tlnsley, of Pichmond, Clerk of the High Court of 
Chancery, of Virginia, gave him a situation in his office ; 
and about the same time, namely 1792, his mother 
removed with his step-father to Kentucky. Thus he who 



25 

had been left an oi-phan at four years of age, now 
at the age of fifteen years, with such advantages of 
instruction as three years' schoohng in the Slashes of 
Hanover, and one year's attendance in a retail store in 
Richmond, miglit be supposed to offer, according to his 
own statement, was left to his own control in the city of 
Richmond, without a guardian and without pecuniary 
means of support, to make good his way in life from the 
stool of a junior clerk in the Chancery Court. And he 
did make good his way. What an illustiious commentary 
is this, at once upon the nature which God had bestowed 
on this wonderful m;in, upon the folly of our connnon 
notions resardinfj; the true nature of education itself, and 
upon the character of our people, our institutions, and our 
times ! That solitary, indigent, and ilhterate boy — to all 
outward appearance might as well expect to scale the 
heavens, as expect to occupy a seat in the Senate of the 
United States, within less than fifteen years after he took 
his seat in that Chancery Clerk's office. To the eye of 
man, that slender lad at his daily u-ksome toil, would have 
been almost the last chOd of the Republic apt to become 
the greatest Tribune of the people this nation has ever 
beheld, and perhaps the first leader and ruler of gi-eat 
Legislative Assembhes the world has ever produced. But* 
he who could have seen what powers lay hid in that frail tene- 
ment; he who could estimate aright the past and the 
fliture training by which those powers had already been 
quickened into action, and would be more and more 
developed ; he who could have foreseen the gi-eat occasions 
which must come, and the fervor with which they would 
be seized, and the enthusiasm with whic^h men would hail 
the advent of one, whose lofty impulses were but reflec- 
tions of their own best desires ; to such a scrutinv as this. 



26 

nothing future and contingent could be more assured, than 
the gi'eat career to which this youth was destined. 

Five years of his life were spent in Richmond, after his 
entrance upon his Chancery Clerkship ; four of these years 
were occupied in constant intercourse with Chancellor 
Wythe, one of the ablest, best, and most learned men oi 
a period and a Commonwealth renowned for great citizens 
At first he was merely his official clerk; soon he became 
his amanuensis, his pupil, his fellow student, his compan- 
ion, his friend. So deep was his sense of what he owed 
to this accomplished man, that he named his first son after 
him. These four years reveal to us a thousand secrets of 
the life and accomplishments of Henry Clay. A genius 
rarely matched, had been prepared by a training singular 
but most powerful; and now the hour and the man had 
come, to light the pile, to fan the flame, to shape and 
polish the exquisite material. It cannot be said that Mr. 
Clay was habitually a student tkrough life ; but no one 
ever found him ignorant of any thing. It cannot be said 
that he was highly learned in any department of human 
knowledge ; but he had that higher and broader insight 
into most parts of knowledge, and that wide and strong 
gi"asp of the very essence and element of knowledge itself 
— whereby the proportions of aU truth become clearest to 
the highest intellects. It cannot be said that he was highly 
refined in any part of learning ; but yet while no man has 
written or spoken more, and none with less regard to mere 
elegance, no English style is clearer, or purer than his — 
and no productions so voluminous in any language will 
endure a severer ordeal of criticism. Nothing in the 
career of this remarkable man is more striking and influ- 
ential, than his long and intimate tiaining under the eye 
of Chancellor Wythe. That venerable man, in the maturity 



27 

of his great powers, and the ripeness of his immense 
attainments, watching over, stimulating, and directing for 
years together, the earnest and intrepid intellect which he 
had found, lost as it were, by the wayside of life . The 
quick and ardent spirit of the youth, ripening into manhood 
under the daily lessons of age made illustrious by gi-eat 
services, great attainments, and great vu'tues. It is a 
specfcicle not more touching in itself^ than it is explanatory 
of the subsequent career of Mr. Clay. It is thus that 
great masters have always been accustomed to form their 
gi-eatest pupils. It is thus that the highest impulses are 
given to the human sphit, and received by it. It is thus 
that the greatest intellects perpetuate theu' force; that the 
highest processes of the human understanding become 
familiar — the deepest secrets of human thought are care- 
fully explored — and the highest forms of knowledge itself 
are made distinct. 

The remaining year which Mr. Clay spent in Richmond, 
was especially devoted to the study of law, as his future 
profession, in the office of Mr. Brooke, at one time Gover- 
nor of the State, but then its Attorney General. In 
1797, being twenty years of age, he was licensed to prac- 
tise law by the Court of Appeals of Vu'ginia. It is to be 
remembered, also, that during the whole period he resided 
in Richmond, six years in all, five of them were passed in 
continual relations with the legal profession — a large part 
of them in habitual intercourse with the greatest lawyers 
of that age, amongst whom was John Marshall, afterwards 
confessedly the greatest judge our country has produced. 
There is no marvel, therefore, that Mr. Clay rose so rap- 
idly to such great eminence at the bar: nor that he main- 
tained his gi'eat position through life — notwithstanding the 
practice of his profession was, during the greater part of 



28 

his career, but incidental and irregular. Nor should it be 
forgotten that during liis early life, to the completion of 
hLs twentieth year, Richmond, in the vicinity of which he 
had passed his fourteen earliest years, and in which he had 
passed the six succeeding years, was not only the focus of 
all that was most illustrious in Vu'ginia, but also one of 
the chief centres of influence, touching all national affairs. 
There was the annual assembly of the Legislature of the 
State; there the highest judicial tribunals sat; there the 
highest public officers resided ; there the chief men of the 
Commonwealth resorted on all great occasions; there 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, and how many 
more, had made a peculiar fame, dearer, if not so august 
as that which filled the nation with theu' praise ; and there 
Tazewell, and Walter Jones, and Robinson, and Taylor, 
and Nicholas, and Root, and how many more, his imme- 
diate compeers, were laying, like himself, deep foundations 
for fiiture eminence. And how many gTeat questions of 
war and peace — of government and legislation — of for- 
eign and domestic policy, had been decided in his sight 
and in his hearing, during those twenty years ! The war 
of the Revolution — the glorious peace it conquered — the 
o^radual con\TLction of the nation a^iinst the old Coufeder- 
ation — the formation of the present Federal Constitution — 
the State Conventions which sat upon it — the establish- 
ment of the new National Government — the election and 
Administration of Wasihngton — the rise and gradual 
formation of National Parties — the election of the Second 
President of the United States, co-incidentally with the 
emigration of i\Ir. Clay to Kentucky. This second period 
in his life could not have been less fruitful in its influence 
on him — nay, may have been far more fruitful than the 
•fii*st He was now a man, and about to launch fearlessly 



29 

upon the stream of life. With what powers, with what 
attainments, with what success, he would soon make manifest, 
and all men now fully know. With what previous training, 
upon what grounds to account to posterity for all that 
followed, it has been my object to disclose. There is no 
mu'acle in gi'eatness : there is no miracle in fortune. That 
which goes before, embraces all that follows after. The 
gifts of God are uncontrollable by man : the Providence 
of God is uTesistible by man. But the lesson of all 
gi'eatness is a true lesson. A lesson often HI read by 
men : seldom um'avelled fully : but full of ti'uth and 
power to all who will study it aright 

At twenty years of age My. Clay took up his abode in 
Lexington, Ky. in the year 1797, and commenced the third 
period of his life. Here he remained till his death, fifty- 
five years afterwards, a resident in this city or its immedi- 
ate vicinage. He entered immediately upon the practice 
of his profession, and rose rapidly to great distinction in 
it Two years afterwards he married Lucretia Hart, a 
daughter of one of the earhest and most important citizens 
of Lexington ; who still survives, an object of respect and 
veneration to us all. The sur^siving members of his num- 
erous family of children are also in our midst. In 1803 
he was elected for the first time to the lower house of the 
Kentucky Legislature ; and before 1811, when he com- 
menced his career as a member of the lower house of Con- 
gress, he had served five or six years in the Kentucky 
House of Representatives, two or three times as Speaker of 
that body, and also in the Senate of the United States, first 
during the year 180G, and afterwards during the yeai-s 
1809 and 1810. This lapse of thirteen years from 1797 
to 1811, constitutes the thnd period of Mr. Clay's career; 



30 

at the close of which we find him in his thirty fourth year, 
taking rank, by universal consent, with the fii'st lawyers, 
the first politicians, the first orators, and the first states- 
men of his time. The training which the Revolution itself 
had commenced, which all that was striking and efl'ective in 
Vu-ginia had developed and advanced, is now completed in 
the bosom of Kentucky, and in the Senate of the nation. 
The point which he has reached may justly be considered 
one at which few, even of those who are esteemed great and 
fortunate, ever anive. With him it is rather the point at 
which his pecuhar glory starts ; insomuch that none have 
thought it needful hitherto, even to trace the influence of 
all that went before, upon the gi'eat glory which followed. 
In this, as in the two preceding periods, let me briefly at- 
tempt to supply this omission. 

Kentucky had been separated from Virginia, and had 
become a sovereign State in 1792 ; the first and fairest 
daughter of the Revolution ! Her people were in cliief 
part emigi-ants fi'om Vkginia — and of them an immense 
proportion were officers and soldiers of the Revolution, who 
had found themselves at the close of that great struggle, 
broken in foitune by the sacrifices theii* country had ex- 
acted, not always generously, and unfitted in some degi-ee, 
by a long war, for many of the common demands of life. 
They turned their resolute faces to this beautiful country, 
and wrested from savages, through a confHct longer and 
fiercer than the one they had waged before, the bounty lands 
which their parent Commonwealth had bestowed on them 
as a partial recompence for then- Revolutionary services. 
They were simple and heroic men: and whatever there may be 
of good or powerfid in the character of our people now, 
one fountain of it was in their veins. To them were 
added, at a later period, mifltitudes of emigrants fiom 



31 

most of the middle and southern States, men in general not 
dissimilar from them, and embracing every condition of 
life. In the midst of this strong, peculiar, and homoge- 
neous population, about twenty years after the fii-st white 
settlement had been attempted, Mr. Clay cast his lot for 
life. After the lapse of more than seventy years since a 
regular government was formed amongst us, we are not 
even yet so tamed that feeble men can rise to permanent 
distinction. Sixty years ago, in the bloom of early man- 
hood, without patrons, without the favor of the great 
or opulent, without the means of paying his weekly 
board, as he himself described his condition in the 
most public and formal manner forty five years afterwards, 
Mr. Clay commenced his professional career in such a com- 
munity, and as he habitualy declared, in the midst of a 
bar uncommonly distinguished by eminent members. How 
just that estimate was, may be easUy understood, when we 
call to mind that amongst the junior members of that bai" 
were James Brown afterwards of Louisiana, and Joseph PI. 
Daviess who fell at Tippecanoe ; and that its leaders were 
George Nicholas, the drafter of the Kentucky Constitution 
of 1792, and the elder John Breckinridge, the drafter of 
the Constitution of 1798-9, the author of those famous 
Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, wliich give the first organ- 
ized expression to the constitutional doctrines of the old 
Democratic party — and afterwards the leading advocate of 
those doctrines in the Senate of the United States. The 
influence of this Kentucky training upon Mr. Clay, and 
the impression he produced and continually strengthened 
upon such a community, is well enough expressed by say- 
ing that of the first thirteen years he spent eight or nine 
in the Legislature of the State, and the Senate of the 
United States; and that fi'om his first election in 1803, 



32 

till his death in 1852 — during fifty years spent chiefly in 
the public service and occupied with every important topic 
which agitated the human mind during that eventful period, 
Kentucky not only refused him nothing, but habitually 
and joyfully ti'usted and honored him. 

During these thirteen years, Mr. Clay enjoyed a full and 
lucrative practice and reached gi'eat eminence in various^ 
departments of his noble profession. Such is the nature 
of human society, that in all free countries the first lawyer 
in any community is its fii'st citizen ; and in proportion as 
the government is popular in its nature, and the exigencies 
of society are unusual, political eminence is the natural in- 
heritance of the leaders of the legal profession, and public 
employments are thrust upon them. It is a glorious in- 
heritance ; and it were well if men understood better the 
conditions on which, alone, it ought to be acquired — and 
felt more deeply the sacred trust wMch its enjo}Tnent im- 
pHes. That Mr. Clay's professional success should con- 
duct him directly to political life, was a result unavoidable 
except by his own refusal of that preferment which is the 
most seductive to ardent minds. Having once entered with 
success upon such a career, the difficulties of retreat and 
the inducements to advance became more serious at every 
step ; while the professional distinction which opened and 
constantly widened the new career, flu"nished, by the varied 
training which had led to it, a fitness for this liigher form 
of public life. The science of government is, indeed, a 
fe,r higher science, than the science of merely remedial jus- 
tice, which is but one department of it ; and the duties of 
true statemanship exceed in importance all other public 
duties which mortals can discharge. Entering upon a 
career of public service which continued half a century, 
and terminated only with his life, there was much that was 



33 

striking in the period itself, as well as in all that was per- 
sonal to Mr. Clay. The dependence of the Colonies upon 
a distant government superior to their own, had always 
limited their absolute independence : and the powers of the 
Continental Congress, — though extremely limited and not 
perfectly defmed, had made the Confederation in eifect a 
Oovernment. It was not therefore a condition wholly new 
— but it was, nevertheless, one very difl'erent fi-om any they 
had occupied before, which the American States assumed 
when the Federal Government was organized under the 
new Constitution in 1789. The character, the abilities, and 
the virtues of Washington, added to the recollection of past 
services which were above all price, had prevented the form- 
ation of an organized opposition during his Administration 
of eight years, which terminated at the period of Mr. Clay's 
settlement in Kentucky. But the new Constitution had not 
been adopted without serious opposition, and considerable 
amendment: and while the very theory of the Constitution, 
even if perfectly settled and accepted, touching the grand 
question of power between it and the several States, would 
have requu'ed the most carefiil handling during the first 
years of the new National Government, if not, indeed, at all 
times : in point of fact, no distinct theory was generally ac- 
cepted — and parties were gradually maturing those conflict- 
ing systems of opinion, which divide the country to the pres- 
ent moment. The passage of the Alien and Sedition Laws 
during the Administration of the elder Adams, followed by 
other acts only less obnoxious than they, produced that 
»vide outburst of national opposition, which, nourished by 
other causes, brought the old Democratic party into per- 
manent control of the Federal Government, and placed Mr. 
Jefferson in the Presidency, in 1801. In the mean time, 

the foreign policy of the Government tended to the divi- 
3 



34 

siou of opiniou, in a line very nearly parallel with that al- 
ready indicated, touching the nature of the Constitution it- 
self The treaty negociated with Great Britain, by Mr. Jay, 
during the second term of General Wasiungton's Athiiin- 
isti'dtion, had produced gi-eat dissatisfation in the country ; 
and the deep sympathy of the American people with the 
progi'ess of the first Revolution in Fmnce, produced a cer- 
tain anxiety in the pubhc mind, at the supposed want oi 
such a sympathy on the part of our Government, almost 
from its commencement. Toward the close of the last 
century, these vaiious subjects had excited in the whole 
nation a high degree of poHtical interest — and had pro- 
duced the most thorough party divisions. In Kentucky, 
there were special causes to augment the agitation, which 
peiTaded the minds of men. She was on the eve of mak- 
ing her second Constitution — and in addition to all other 
fandamental questions, was about to determine that one 
concerning the hereditary Slavery of the black mce, which 
still clings like a mighty parasite to the whole fiibric of 
our peculiar civilization, and our double system of Govern- 
ments. She was moreover so vitally involved in that por- 
tion of the foreign policy of the nation, wliich concerned 
the country beyond the Mississippi, and on both sides of 
its lower course, as well as the exclusive national use of the 
majestic sti'eam itself; that nothing but the acquisition of 
Louisiana by the Federal Government, would probably have 
prevented the people of the West from anticipating b}^ hah 
a century, that form of individual conquest and org-anized 
personal war, which has become, in our day, an element in 
the movement of society. There were besides, questions 
less deeply seated, but still immense : questions of finance, 
of the currency, and of banldng — questions of internal im- 
provement, questions of the Federal Judiciary, and the 



35 

powers of Congress relative thereto, questions of the pub- 
lic lands, questions of the Indian Tribes and Indian wars, 
questions of the formation of New Stiites. Such is a mere 
sketch, designed only to convey some idea of his topics, 
as before of his associates and his theatre of action, during 
the thirteen years immediately following Mr. Cl^^y's emi- 
gTation to Kentucky, and immediately productive of the 
gi'eat career which he commenced as Speaker of the Lower 
House of Congress, in 1811. They who are famihar with 
his opinions and pubHc services, and who are conversant 
with the civil and pohtical history of the country, will per- 
ceive at once- from the topics I have enumerated,, how 
many of the gi'eat principles which regulated all his pubhc 
conduct, were definitively settled and announced duiing 
these thirteen years ; how many of the most difficult ques- 
tions he was ever called to handle, were carefully investi- 
gated at this early period ; how many of the gi'eatest eflbi-ts 
of his subsequent life have thek germ Jiere. On one single 
topic of capital importance, connected in its origin with this 
period of liis life, he saw cause aftenvards to modify, if not 
to change an opinion deliberately formed. It is the single 
incident of the kind, which his long pubhc service fm- 
nlshes ; and it was avowed with perfect fi-ankness, defin- 
ed with consummate sldll, and defended with great and 
characteristic force. As a Senator in Congi-ess, in the 
Session of 1810, he resisted with all his force the re- 
chartering of the Bank of the United States: as a member 
of the House of Representatives in 181G, and repeatedly 
afterwards, he urged with equal earnestness, the charter- 
ing of a Bank of the United States. His reasons on both 
those occasions, are preseiTcd in his published works. — 
The incident itself illlustrates some of the gi'eatest quahties 
of his mind : the steadfastness of his gi'eat understanding, 



36 

when its demands were satisfied ; the noble fairness of it, 
notwithstanding its great tenacity ; the dehberate care mth 
which it reached conclusions which it felt to be final. — 
Substantially this is liis exposition of an incident, wliich in 
an ordinaiy man, would have passed unnoticed. Here is a 
question of incidental power ; if the power is necessary for 
the execution of any powers clearly granted, then it is 
granted, otherwise it is withheld. Upon the first examination 
of the question, it did not appear to me that the inci- 
dental power was necessary in any strict sense, while it 
did appear to me to be in its own nature liable to abuse ; 
and while my settled pohtical principles led me to resist 
the exercise of doutful powers. Upon a second and more 
careful examination of the question, under new and ex- 
tremely important aspects of pubhc alfau's, I became satis- 
fied that the disputed power was not only necessary, but 
in a manner indispensable to extricate the country and se- 
cure some of its highest interests. To this latter opinion 
I adhere, and abide by the judgment of my country upon 
the reasons for the change of opinion, which I have laid 
before it. 

It is far beyond the hmits of a sketch Hke this, to discuss 
the merits of the particular principles avowed by Mr. Clay; 
or to pass sentence on the gi'eat and numerous questions 
embraced in his hundred published speeches ; or to illus- 
trate, one after another, the incidents of liis long pubhc 
life ; or to estimate the separate parts of that immense mass 
of policy and legislation, which gi'ow under his hands into 
a mighty system. Duties such as these belong to far dif- 
ferent hands, far diiferent occasions. Independently, 
altogether, of the judgment we may form for ourselves, 
of any, or oven the gi-eater part of these particulars, 
there is a higher judgment which we may form of liim to 



37 

whom they stand related in a manner more or less inti- 
mate, and of the influence which he exerted, or sought to 
exert, through them, upon his country, his age, and his 
race. At the very commencement of his professional life, 
we find him ardently advocating the distinctive opinions of 
what was called at that time the Republican, in contra-dis- 
tinction to the Federal party ; the questions which separa- 
ted them having particular relation to the powers of the 
General Government, the mode of construing the Federal 
Constitution, the rights of the States, and the Foreign poli- 
cy of the country. By the time the former party had be- 
come firmly established in the control of the government, 
by the election of Mr. Jefferson in 1801, it had acquked, 
very generally, the name of the Democratic party ; and 
under that appellation, controlled the administration of pub- 
lic affau's, for twenty-eight years, thi'ough the Administra- 
of Jefferson, IMadison, ^Ionroe, and the younger Adams, 
to the year 1829. Thi'oughout this whole period, Mr. 
Clay was thoroughly identified with this gi'eat party : — 
and whether in CongTcss, as a Foreign Minister, or as a 
^Member of the Cabinet, was for the gi-eater portion of it, 
one of its most distingiiished leaders. Although Gen. Jackson 
had always belonged to the Democratic party, and in that 
sense liis election, and the elections subsequently of Mr. 
V.VN BuREN and Mr. Polk, might be claimed as prolonga- 
tions of the ti-iumph of the party which came into power in 
1801, yet ii'om the period of Gen. Jackson's first elec- 
tion, in 1829, to that of Mr. Clay's death in 1852, his ha- 
bitual position to the government had been wholly chang- 
ed, except during the last three years of his life, embrac- 
ing the gi-eater part of the Administration of Mr. Fillmore. 
The election of General Jackson was stiictly speaking, the 
initiation of a new era in American parties. It was known 



38 

to be his own desire that old party Hnes should be eflac- 
ed ; and this generous and politic impulse went far to con- 
ciliate the old Federal party — long beaten, but still sti'ong. 
Besides this, his high personal qualities, his long public 
services, his gTeat military reputation, and a certain feeUng 
• mdely diflused amongst the people, that the popular will 
had been too little regarded in the selection of ]\Ir. Ad.vm^ 
over him by the House of Representatives, four years be- 
fore, conspu'ed to carry him into the Presidency with an 
overwhelming burst of popular enthusiasm, in 1829. He 
found himself in effect, the creator of a new party, personal- 
ly devoted to himself, and for many years bearing his name. 
It was impossible for Mr. Cl-\y to adhere to this party. For 
it had occuiTed, that his own influence had tm-ned the scale 
in favor of Mr. Adams, in 1825 : and as the result of his 
conduct on that occasion, he had been assailed with an 
atrocious malevolence, which has no parallel in our annals, 
wliich stimg his proud and sensitive spirit more deeply than 
all the injuries of his life combined, and which is shocldng 
alike by its baseness, its folly, and its efficacy. But, be- 
sides this, there were in the very nature of the case., 
grounds upon which a party created like the one I have 
described, and led by a man of the controlling influence 
and u-on will of General Jackson, could never be the party 
to wMch such a man as Mr. Cjay was in 1829, could ad- 
here. With the progi'css of events, the diflerences became 
more numerous and more decided : and as the name '■' Dem- 
ocrat " became gradually restored to the Jackson party, the 
name '' Whig," which had been fi'om of old glorious in 
Britain, and which our own Revolution had made doubly 
glorious, was gTadually assumed by the opposite party, to 
express their hostihty alike to Executive encroachment in 
the Government, and to Federal encroachment upon the 



39 

States — their devotion to the popular, in opposition to the 
regal element of the National Constitution. It is a 
great eiTor to allege, that Mr. Clay in this change 
of party name changed any principle whatever ; or that 
the new name implied any such thing. The form might 
var^' somewhat in the progi"ess of years and of de- 
velopment ; but in point of absolute trath, the old Whig 
pai-ty of the Revolution, and the recent Whig party, 
which the death of Mr. Cl.\y, and immediately succeeding 
events disorganized, were identical with each other, and 
with the old RepubUcan party which arose with the Federal 
Constitution itself, and the old Democratic party, which 
came into power with ]\Ir. Jefferson in 1801. Whether 
the party to which Mr. Clay adhered during his whole 
pohtical career, bore one name or another, and whether it 
was in power or in opposition — there can be no doubt of 
the distinct and unchangeable fixedness and coherence of 
his own pohtical opinions, from the beginning to the end. 
Whatever may be thought of these opinions, no one can 
doubt the extraordinary courage and ability with which he 
maintained them. Whatever may be thought of the party, 
whose popular leader he was during many years of triumph, 
and which rallied around his person during many years of 
disaster, it is impossible to deny to him the glory, 
whether in triumph or defeat, of i-anking with the greatest 
party leaders, the world has ever seen. One of the ablest 
and most generous of his opponents, standing by his dead 
body, boldly proclaimed, '• Here lies a man, who was in the 
public service for fiftij years, and never attempted to de^ 
ceive his countrymen^'' 

The period at which Mr. Cl.\y became conspicuous as a 
member of Congi-ess, was one which taxed in the highest do- 



40 

gree all the powers of our gi'eatest statesmen. Our new 
government had indeed been fully organized, and had 
passed through three Administrations, covering twenty 
years. But each of these Administrations had presented 
a widely different phase, and the country a widely different 
state of parties under each ; and new phases of admiustra- 
tion, and new aspects of parties, and new conditions of thj 
country, were to be powerfully developed. As a mere 
iHusti-ation, let it be remembered, that during the fifty 
years of jNIr. Clay's political life, the population of the 
United States increased more than four fold — its Territorial 
extent more than five fold — while as the product of those 
causes, augmented by its enormous progress in wealth, in 
commerce, in manufactures, in agTiculture, in the useful 
arts, in public works, and in every element of national 
power, its actual force had increased a hundred fold. It 
had risen from a condition so little dreaded by gi'eat 
nations, as to require it to vindicate by war with the great- 
est of them all, its right to be neutral in the bloody con- 
flicts of distant states ; and it had risen so high that all 
great nations felt their own safety to be involved in its for- 
eign policy. It is in the midst of such a progi-ess, through 
such a development, to such a result, that this man, con- 
fessedly so gi'eat as an orator, a lawyer, a politician, a 
parliamentary leader, must vindicate to himself the still 
higher title of a gi'eat Statesman. Two things may be 
confidentially asserted as the basis of his claim to a title 
so august. The first is that of all the statesmen of his 
age, he most prominently carved a pohcy for his country • 
a policy, to adopt which, or to reject which, made the sys- 
tem of other statesmen. A policy much disputed, and hav- 
ing various fortune; but a policy, nevertheless, which, 
whether adopted, or modified, or rejected, had a perpetual 



41 

relation to him, as the leader by whose means every gi-eat 
measure must be advocated, or must be resisted. From 
1811 till 1852, a period of more than forty years, it can- 
not be denied that the opinion of Henry Clay was an im- 
portiint element in the fate of every important question of 
national policy. The other fact is still more honorable 
to his name, still more conclusive of his trae greatness. 
To whatever cause we may see fit to attribute it, whether 
to his patriotism, to his justice, his sagacity, his love 
of fame, his ambition, the fact is still unquestionable, 
that of all the statesmen of his day, he was held by 
the common voice of manldnd to be the most impartial. 
Impartial in stri\dng to aiTange all conflicting interests, 
impartial in seeking to adjust all threatening difficulties, 
impartial in setthng the boundaries of power and right, 
impartial in his great spuit, in his wide intelligence, 
and in his dauntless conduct. It seems to me that these 
two qualities describe the highest type of statesmen. — 
A nature so high that nothing can disturb its subhme 
rectitude, so large that nothing can evade its serene 
intelligence ! The passions of men, the vicissitudes of 
fortune, the force of events, the course of Providence 
itself, may give or may deny success to human efforts ; 
may baffle or may respect human wisdom. But if there 
\)e such a thing as supreme excellence in statesmanship — 
every just conception of it, must embrace the qualities I 
have signalized as fundamental in the character of Henry 
I!lay. 

And now we are in the midst of that gi'eat period of 
his life — commencing with his election as vSpeaker of the 
House of Representatives, and terminating with his death, 
during which all his great endowments became so conspic- 
uous, through seiTices and efforts so iHustiious. He had 



42 

uever before been a member of that house ; which renders 
it still more remarkable that he should have been elected 
its Speaker on the day he took his seat. He was re-elect- 
ed Speaker six times; and after occupying the chak about 
thuieen years, left it to become Secretary of State in the 
Cabinet of the younger Adams, in 1825, which situation b 
held till the close of that Administration in 1829. He 
was out of Congress during two short periods ; first in 
1814-15, while engaged as one of the American Commis- 
sioners in negotiating the tr-eaty of Ghent, and again in 
1820-22, when the condition of his private aflau's obhged 
him to return to the bar. After the close of his service 
as Secretary of State, in 1829, he remained in private life 
till the autumn of 1831, when he was elected to the Senate 
of the United States for the thii'd time, and commenced a 
Senatorial career even more protracted and glorious than 
his previous career in the more popular branch of Congi'ess. 
He was elected to the Senate the fourth time in 1837. In 
March, 1842, after twelve years continuous service in the 
Senate, covering six years of the Administration of Gene- 
ral Jackson, the whole of Mr. V.\n Bueen's Administr^ation, 
and the first two years of Mr. Tyler's, he resigned his 
seat in the Senate and retu-ed, as he supposed finally, to 
private life. In 1848, he was elected to the Senate the 
fifth time, and was a member of it till his death in 1852. 
From his entrance into public life, just fifty years had ex- 
pu'ed at his death ; and of these more than forty years 
had been passed in the most laborious pubho service. 
From his entrance into the House of Representatives in 
1811, he had served tliirteen yeai-s as the Speaker of that 
House — about sixteen years as a Senator, and four years 
as Secretary of State ; thus occupying for the gi'eater part 
of the last forty years of his life, in a career not matched 



43 

by any statesman of his era. It cannot be said with 
propriety that Mr. Clay was in private Ufe, even \\\\eu. 
not engaged in the pubUc service. In or out of office 
he was still the leader of the gTeat party which shared 
his sentiments, and approved his pubhc policy ; a party 
many of whose members cherished for twenty years, 
not only a settled desu-e, but a vehement passion to 
elevate him to the Presidency of the United States. Again 
and again did they urge upon the people his claims upon 
that high office ; and more than once the gTeat prize seems 
to have eluded him after it had l)eeu apparently secured. 
His immediate friends never doubted that in 1844, when 
JMr. Polk became the President, Mr. Clay was really elect- 
ed by the legal votes ; and that but for the frauds on the 
elective franchise, in New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and 
Louisiana, he would have received an immense majority of 
the whole electoral vote of the nation. Be that as it may, 
it was a convention of My. Clay's friends that nominated 
General Harrison, who was elected in 1841, and Geneml 
Taylor who was elected in 1849. So that, in eflect, the 
nation may really have been for him, during the twelve 
years covered by the three successive Administi-ations of Mr. 
Tyler, Mr. Polk, and Mr. Fill-More, fi-om 1841 to 1853. 
It was, at least, a signal retribution, that the death of Gen- 
eml Harrison and the advent of Mr. Tyler to the Pres- 
idency, should have defeated every hope, which caused ]\Ir. 
Clay to be set aside in 1841 j and that the death of Mr. 
Clay should have disorganized it wholly in 1852 ; if dui'- 
ing so many previous years that party had it in its power 
by concert, by effort, and by zeal, to raise him to the 
Presidency, and make its own national policy triumphant. 
I do not say that his glory is less as the fu*st citizen, 
orator, and statesman, of his age, than it would have been 



44 

as the first magistrate of liis country. The difference to 
his party was incalculable. To his country — what and how 
gi'eat — this is not the occasion, nor has the time yet come, 
to determine. 

Concerning this last, longest, and most illustrious por- 
tion of Mr. Clay's life — there are certain great character 
istics so obvious that they cannot be overlooked, and so 
pecuHar as to be perfectly decisive. The most obvious is 
the superiority which he acquired and maintained in every 
assembly in which he was called to act ; and the mastery 
he exhibited over every subject submitted to his scrutiny ; 
or to utter all in one word, his indisputable supremacy. — 
Both Houses of Congi'ess, and the Cabinet of the Pres- 
sident, are theatres pecuUar in themselves ; and the chau- 
of the House of Representatives, and the table around 
which Ambassadors converse, are also theatres distinct and 
singular. Moreover Mr. Clay encountered everywhere, 
during the forty years under our immediate consideration, 
all the ablest public men, of an age fi-uitful of gi'eatness ; 
and it was his foitune to be obliged to confi-ont, thi'ough 
hfe, questions of the gi'avest importance, and the largest 
sweep, and to be obhged to act with regard to interests the 
most lasting and immense. The general impression 
has been, that he had enjoyed no previous training, cal- 
culated to fit him for eminence on such theatres ; and his 
own candid and modest statements concerning his early 
hfe, have sti-engthened this general impression, which it is 
probable he deeply shared. I have sought to correct this 
Macy, and to explain in the known flicts of the case, ai> 
plied to such a nature and such endowments as his, the 
causes wliich produced his superb fitness for his gi'eat 
career. Be that as it may, his success was never for a 
moment doubtflil, in any theatre on which he acted. So 



45 

gi*eat was the impression produced of his superiority in 
every thing to which he addressed himself, that on the 
breaking out of the war with England in 1812, Mr. Madi- 
son desu-ed to confer on him the supreme command of our 
armies, though his age scarcely exceeded thirty-five years, 
nor had he ever studied the military art, or had a day's 
experience in arms. No great genius ever proved itself 
by this unerring test, appUed more variously ; nor does the 
history of mankind aflbrd a score of names, whose fitness 
for supremacy in afl'airs, was more signally marked than 
liis. He rose wth every new occasion of his life ; during 
forty years his country never doubted that he was entitled 
to "mnk with the ablest men of his day ; and when he pas- 
sed away, the settled conviction of enlightened men, 
throughout the earth, ratified the solemn judgment of his 
country, that none gi*eater remained. 

What followed of necessity, from such a character as this, 
was the breadth and thoroughness of his way of viewing all 
subjects, and the wide diffusion of any party that might 
follow him. Such a spuit must expand itself, as the posi- 
tion fi-om which it acts rises higher and higher ; such a 
leader must gather to his standard, all everj^vhere within 
his influence, who sjTnpathize with his thought and ap- 
prove his pui-pose. He could not limit himself to interests 
purely local ; he could not lend himself to ends purely sec- 
tional ; he could not appreciate measures in the narrow 
bearing of them ; he could not restrain himself to the 
transitory efiects ofpoUcy ; he could not conceal fi'om him-, 
.self the influence of isolated acts upon each other and upon 
systems of things. The statesmanship of Mr. CL.iY, there- 
fore, continually regarded the interests of the whole nation, 
the relations of the parts of it to each other, and to the 
whole, and the relations of the nation itself to all other 



nations ; and was a statesmanship, whatever may be 
thought of its wisdom and its fitness in the actual con- 
dition of affiiu's, pre-eminently large, self-consistent, and 
efiective. And the party which adhered to his fortunes, 
great as may have been its personal devotion to him, 
was a party the Cirthest possible from being sectional ir 
any of its aims, or anti-national in any of its principles 
Every measure proposed by Mr. Clay during his illustri- 
ous career , may doubtless be called in question by men of 
other views ; and the gi'eat system which they unitedly 
composed, and the high pohcy they combined to advance, 
may be rejected as being unsuitable to our countiy. IS^or 
is it my purpose to discuss any of these things. But that 
his conception of the true destiny of this gi'eat nation, was 
pure and august, no one competent t^ judge will ever doubt, 
any more than that he followed the conception he had form- 
ed, with a spuit singularly ti'ue and inti'epid — \\ith a heart 
perfectly repubUcan and national, and with resources whose 
extent, defeat itself rendered more apparent. A child of 
the Revolution, a pupil of the gTeat men whom the Rev- 
olution produced, a follower of the gTeat national ideas of 
that subhme era, he was, above all the statesmen of his 
immediate times, the statesman of the nation that Revolu- 
tion founded, the nation those great men and those gi-eat 
ideas fashioned. 

In a free and gi'eat country constituted, as ours is, of 
many local sovereignties on one hand, and a common 
national government on the other, and covering, as ours 
does, an area so immense, and embracing interests so 
diversified; it must necessarily occm- that at certiin periods 
and from various quarters, pubhc opinion which is the 
very foundation on which our vast system rests, may shake 
in its furious commotions those very foundations, to which, 



47 

in its majestic calmness, it imparts such invincible strengtk 
After all, and under every form which human society can 
put on, the only question concerning such perils is the 
question of remedy. Whore man is made for the govern- 
ment, the remedy is always bloody and sudden. Where 
the government is made for man, the remedy may 
be slow, but nmst, without madness, always be peaceful. 
I confess myself unable to understand how revolution 
and civil war, can be permanently avoided under despotic 
governments, or can occur in free countries, unless some 
gi-eat portion of the people are steadily bent on mischief, 
that is, in other words, have ceased to be fit for freedom. 
In the whole career of ]\Ir. Clay, nothing more remarka- 
bly distinguishes, iiim, than his keen appreciation of the 
true nature of such perils when they occur, no matter under 
what aspect ; and his prompt and comprehensive manner 
of dealing with them, according to their respective conditions. 
Justly estimating the position of the United States with 
reference to human freedom, he saw more clearly than 
any statesmen of his age, precisely what we owed, on thy 
one hand, to strugghng hberty every^vhere, and precisely 
what we owed, on the other, to established liberty in our own 
gTeat empire. It is to this profound insight, so character- 
istic of true genius, not less than to his ardent patriotism 
in matters that related to his own country, and to his 
aarnest desire for the progi-ess of human civilization in 
matters that related to all other nations ; that we should 
attribute his conduct, alike in our own seasons of peril 
from domestic discord, and his conduct toward those in all 
other countries, who were peiiling their hves for personal 
freedom, and national independence. For us — was his 
just, wise, and patriotic idea — who have acquired these 
inestimable treasures, let us pi-eserve them by every nmtual 



48 



concession, and eveiy proof of exalted forbearance; re- 
membering how poor and how low are all secondary consid- 
erations, when compared with the peace, the freedom, the 
independence, the union, the glory of our countr)^ For 
the oppressed nations, was his equally great conception, 
the case is precisely reversed. For them, until personal 
freedom, and national independence are won, all other 
considerations are insignificant and transitory. To the 
Republics of South America, therefore, to Greece, to men 
in all lands who periled life for that without which life is 
ignominious, he hfted up his eloquent and heroic voice, 
cheering them and rebuking the sluggish enthusiasm of 
his country. But to the perilous discord of his own 
countrymen — rising far above all considerations of 
party, of section, and of mere poHcy — his sublime 
teachings were of forbearance, brotherhood, and mutual 
concessions for the common liberty, the common glory. 
On three memorable occasions, the fii'st in the House 
of Representatives, the other two in the Senate of the 
United States, it was his fortune to exert his gi'eat powers 
with complete success, in the settlement of the three most 
threatening internal difficulties, which occurred fi'om the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution till his own death. 
The first related to the admission of Missouri into the 
Union, and occuiTcd in 1819-21. It involved and settled 
for thirty years, all those questions concerning the power 
of Congress over slavery in the Territories, which the 
recent repeal of the Missouri Compromise has opened 
afresh. The second occurred in 1832-33, and related to 
the whole question of the Protective pohcy of the country, 
involving the question of the power by a State to nullify 
an act of Congi-ess. The thu-d occuiTed in 1850-52, 
and embraced and settled numerous questions of the most 



49 

profound interest to the nation, and most difficult and im- 
portant in themselves ; some of which, recent events, sub- 
sequent to his death, have opened again with so much 
vehemence and peril to the country. And where is the 
statesman, for whom is now in store, the gi"eat glory of 
doing for us once what he ihricc accomplished ? 

It is in the hght of these gi-eat characteristics of Mr. 
Clay, the immense superiority of his nature, the intense 
nationality of his spiiit, and his exquisite perception of 
the immense supremacy of the question of our liberties, 
our independence, and our Union, over all other questions; 
that they who would appreciate aright, must constantly 
scrutinize the eflbrts and the acts which make his course so 
illustrious, during the forty years I am now surveying. 
Called to administer the foreign affairs of the country, to 
negotiate numerous and important treaties, to adjust prin- 
ciples of international law, to watch over the interests of 
commerce, and to discharge the various duties of the most 
important cabinet officer under the government ; called to 
preside for twelve or tMrteen years over the National 
House of Representatives, and to sit for eighteen or nine- 
teen years in the National Senate ; called to discuss and to 
settle the gi-eatest Constitutional questions, the largest and 
most difficult parts of national poUcy, the most extensive 
interests of every kind, of the most prosperous and rapidly 
advancing people in the world; called to maintain his 
elevated position by the most numerous and varied dis- 
courses ever deUvered by any single orator ; called to en- 
dure the most systematic, vindictive, and unworthy perse- 
cution ever organized against any American statesman ; 
called at last to close his labors and his hfe toirether 
amidst the unanimous applause of his countrymen — his 
remains were borne in solemn tiiumph from the Capitol 



50 

which he had so long adorned, and dehvered by the nation 
itself, into the hands of those who had never faltered in 
then- loving, trustful, and proud devotion to him ! Our 
fathers are with him to-day, in the land where good men 
dwell, when they are done with earth. Our hands have 
founded to-day a monument, not so much to commem- 
orate his gi'eatness, as to commemorate our love. — 
And of the many thousands gathered to participate in our 
pious labors, no just or generous heart A\ill whisper, that I 
speak aught concerning him but the severest truth ! 

And now what was it in this great man, which the train- 
ing I have pointed out developed under the fortune which 
attended him, into the character and career I have sketch- 
ed? What was he in that distinct personal existence, 
which made him so remarkable, and which entered as the 
fundamental element into his ti'aining, his lot, and his des- 
tiny ? To answer this question at once briefly, justly, and 
completely, is the most difficult part of my present duty : 
difficult always, and with regard to every human being : 
still more difficult, concerning a career begun fi-om a po- 
sition so narrow and so humble, covering an area so vast, 
and terminating at an elevation so immense : most dif- 
ficult of all, when striding to utter the cahn judgment of 
posterity, in the hearing of Uving men, to whose concep- 
tions no utterance of mine might seem sufficient. This 
much, I think I may assert ; that he of whom I speak 
knew perfectly, and that every one of you will gi'ant, tha 
not for the fame which he himself attained, would I in such 
a matter, depart fl'om the tiiithful utterance of my own 
convictions. 

My own judgment is that the gi'eat, original, and all 
pervading element of the gi'eatness of Henry Clay, was, 



51 

BO to speak, the extreme naturcdness of the man. lie was 
a man like the times in which he lived, Hke the men who 
suiTOunded him, like the nature he bore. There was noth- 
ing distorted about his nature — nothing out of sympathy 
with his times — nothing that could make him, or any one 
else, feel that he was not a man of the very living genera- 
tion. He was not a common, — on the other hand he was 
a grand specimen, but yet he was a real and faithful spec- 
imen of a man, of an American, of a Kentucldan. And 
all who beheld him would have owned, if their thought 
had been so directed, that there stood before them a type, 
a noble type it may be, but yet a real type of a man, an 
American, a Kentuckian, of that long and glorious period, 
commencing with the Revolution, and terminating in the 
middle of the nineteenth century. It was thus that there 
was begotten between him and the generation with which 
he acted, a sympathy so profound and so enduring : and if 
he had never been called to act in pubhc affau-s, except 
concerning questions with regard to which the national 
mind was substantially agreed — he would necessarily have 
been as much the idol of the nation, as he was of those 
who shared his principles. In that case he would have 
taken his place in history, by the side of those heroes and 
sages of the human race, who with this same glorious en- 
dowment enjoyed a higher foiiune, and whose names scat>- 
tered thinly across the track of ages, keep our race alive 
to the highest glor}^ which humanity can reach, and to the 
sublime conditions of attaining it 

With such a natureCGod had bestowed on him a person- 
al presence and bearing, as impressive as any mortal ever 
possessed."' Whatever was in his heart his very organiza- 
tion and manner seemed perfectly fitted to express ; what- 
ever was in his mind his outward man seemed in all things 



52 

exactly calculated to make articulate. The force which all 
that in its widest sense can be called action lends to every 
uttemnce, abode in him without measure ; and with him, 
as with all gi'eat masters of human passion, the voice and 
the diction were not less stiildng than the thought and 
the emotion which they emiched and made vital. The 
spirit which animated an organization so fine seemed, as 
is not uncommon in the highest class of men, to possess 
two natures : one genial, playful, loving, gentle, fi-ank, and 
placable ; the other firm, wary, heroic, persistent, and cap- 
able of the most daring, fiery, and impetuous move- 
ments : and the two combined made up a temper which 
was habitually kind, self-rehant^ lofty, and just. The 
basis of his moral character was akin to that which hes at 
the foundation of supreme moral excellence, — integiity 
and love of truth. Honest in all things, truthful always : 
to deceive, to prevaricate, to act unfaii-ly, — ^the refuges of 
base, timid, and feeble natures, — no more entered into 
his thoughts in the high and difficult emergencies of life, 
than in the daily round of his commonest duties. His was 
a high, fair, brave, upright nature. His intellectual char- 
acter, by which he will be chiefly known to posterity, was, 
as all men acknowledge, of the highest order. Clear, 
powerful, and comprehensive, no subject seemed to be 
difficult under its steady insight, and it embraced with 
equal readiness every department of human knowledge to 
which it became his duty to attend. A great and original 
thinker, he encountered without hesitation, the widest and 
most intricate problems, and acted with absolute confidence 
on the conclusions at which he arrived. Sagacious in the 
highest degree, in detecting all faUacy, the highest studies 
of ordinaiy minds amused his leisure ; and speculations 
which begim in his day to pass for the elements of science 



> 



53 

in certain departments of the wide domain of political phi- 
losophy, he publicly classed with the fictitious literature of 
the hour. No genius was ever capable of a wider diversity 
of use than his. And the vast and searching common 
sense, which was the most striking characteristic of hi.s 
intellect, revealed the purity, the truth, and the force with 
which the ultimate elements of our rational nature dwelt 
and acted in his noble understanding. If we add now the 
power of that patient, dauntless, and heroic will, which ex- 
ecuted the desires of such a heart, and obeyed the behests 
of such an intellect, we complete the survey of this extra- 
ordinary man. It was undoubtedly as an orator, that he 
was most illustrious in his own generation. Posterity may 
change this verdict, and give him superior rank, both as 
a statesman and as a man consunnnate in the gTeatest 
practical aflairs. But if the ages to come, could be made 
aware of the influence which was added to his gTeat dis- 
courses, by the power of his action, his voice, and hLs im- 
posing presence ; if they could appreciate the rapidity and 
truth of his intuition, the depth of his common sense, the 
grasp of his understanding, both logical and practical, the 
vitality of his convictions, the directness of his method, 
the fierceness of his withering sarcasm, the fervor of his 
high intellectual movements, his boundless confidence in 
tnith, his dauntless sense of right, his profound sympathy 
with his audience, the sublime completeness of the whole 
to the whole, the man to the occasion, the utterance to the 
subject, — it would be felt how justly, after a straggle of 
fifty years, and in comparison with a succession of men 
greatly distinguished in his own gi-eat art, he was held 
worthy to take rank with the greatest orators the world 
has produced. To sum up all, I do not hesitate to apply 
to him the words which the sublime character of Hampden 



54 

wrung from Cl.\rExWON, " He was a man that durst always, 
"at all risks, support the liberty and property of the 
" country ; a man above all others possessed of the most 
" absolute sphit of popularity, and the most absolute fac- 
" ulties to govern ; a man to whom all came to learn, and 
" of whom it could not be discovered that he learned from 
"any one." 

I have said in the commencement of this discourse 
that Mr. Clay was the child of Christian parents, all the 
more likely to be jealous of the heritage of God's love to 
their boy, as they had little else to bestow upon him. 
His own repeated declarations, made in the most public 
and solemn manner, at every period of his life, that he 
cherished the highest veneration for the Christian religion, 
and the most profound conviction of the divine mission of 
the Savior of sinners — fully justify the importance which 
I have attached to this element of his destiny, even if he 
hud not attested, in his latter years, the sincerity of his 
lile-long convictions, by openly professing his faith in the 
son of God, and uniting himself with his professed follow- 
ers. He hved some yeai's, and closed his days, in com- 
munion of the Protestiint Episcopal Church, to which his 
venerable wife had long been attached. It was my fortune 
to have personal knowledge under circumstances which do 
not admit of any doubt in my own mind, that according 
to the measure of the light he had, he was during a few 
years immediately preceding his death, a penitent and 
believing follower of the Divine Redeemer. It may be 
well allowed, that the frank and habitual avowal even of 
speculative lliith in the Christian religion, by a man of his 
character and position, was not without its value, and was 
not free from reproach, during that terrible season of 



55 

unbelief which marked the close of the last century, and 
stretched forward upon the first quarter of the present. 
And that the crowning efforts of Ms life were sustained l)y 
a sense of Christian duty, and its last suflerings assuaged 
by the consolations of Christian hope, are facts too 
important, as they relate to him, and too significant in 
their own nature, to be omitted in any estimate of him. 
It is not, however, on account of such considerations as 
these, that I reitemte with so much emphasis the undenia- 
ble fact, that Mr. Clay never was an infidel, that he was 
always an avowed believer in true rehgion. But it is because 
such is my sense of the shallowness, the emptiness, and 
the baseness of that state of the human soul, in Avhich it 
can deny the God who created it, and the Savior who 
redeemed it, and can empty itself of its own highest 
impulses — and disallow its own sublimest necessities ; that 
I have no conception how such a soul could be what this 
man was, or do what he did. It is because I do under- 
stiind with perfect distinctness, that belief in God, and 
belief in a mission given to us by him, and to be executed 
with success only by means of his blessing upon our 
efforts; must be a conviction, at once profound and 
enduring, in every soul that is gi'eat in itseff, or that can 
accomplish ever}i:hing gi'eat. Wonderful as Mr. Clay's 
career was, it would be a hundred fold more wonderful, to 
suppose that such a career was possible to a scoft'er and a 
sceptic. 

Nor is it possible for us to forget, that in some sort he 
anticipated what has occuiTed this day, and habitually 
desired that, wherever the exigencies of his life might 
require him to die, his dust should mingle with our dust. 
Ten years before his death, speaking for the last time, as he 
then supposed, to the Senate of the United States, and speak- 



56 

ing of you, his words were these, " I emigrated from Vii-ginia 
" to the State of Kentucky, now nearly forty-five years 
"ago. I went as an orphan boy who had not yet attained 
"the age of majority, who had never recognized a father's 
" smile, nor felt his warm caresses, poor, penuyless, with- 
'out the favor of the great, with an imperfect and 
' neglected education, hardly sufficient for the ordinary 
' business and common pursuits of life; but scarce had I set 
" my foot on her generous soil, when I was embraced with 
" parental fondness, caressed as though I had been a favor- 
"ite child, and patronized with hberal and unbounded 
" munificence. From that period, the highest honors of 
"the State have been bestowed upon me ; and when, in 
" the darkest hour of calamity and deti'action, I seemed to 
" be assailed by all the rest of the world, she intei-posed 
" her broad and impenetrable shield, repelled the poisoned 
" shafts that were aimed for my destmction, and vindicated 
" my good name from every malignant and unfounded 
"aspersion. I return with indescribable pleasure to finger 
" a-while longer, and mingle with the warm-hearted and 
" whole-souled people of that State ; and when the last 
" scene shall forever close upon me, I hope that my earthly 
*' remains will be laid under her green sod with those of 
her gaUant and patriotic sons." On one of the last days 
of his life, he said to Judge Underwood, his colleague in 
the Senate, " There may be some question where my re- 
" mains shall be buried. Some persons may designate 
' Frankfort I wish to repose in the Cemetery at Lexing- 
' ton, where many of my fiiends and connections are bu- 
" ried." And so it is, this day. Ilis earthly remains are 
under her green sod — and many of her gallant and patri- 
otic sons are lying by his side. IMany a friend, who in his 
life stuck closer than a brother, and many a connection by 



57 

ties of blood, and ties closer than blood itself, — repose in 
silence around the illustrious sage. Piously, to him and 
them, in all reverence and love, our filial hands have now 
wrought his last behest. All blessings on that glorious 
name, " which will be repeated with applause wherever lib- 
erty is cherished or is known." 

I ought not to pass wholly without notice the affecting 
coincidence which makes the day which is sacred to the 
liberty of manldnd, and the independence of nations, the 
fit occasion for solemnities wliich are desiscned to commem- 
orate our own veneration for a patriot, whose whole life 
was at once an illustration of what may be won tlu-ough 
the freedom, the independence, and the union of his coun- 
try, and a sublime plea for then- endless continuance. It is 
two hundred and fifteen years, this day, since the Long 
Parliament of England established an Executive Govern- 
ment, and thus laid the foundation of the English Com- 
monwealth. JoiiN ILiMPDEN, next to Washington, the 
gi-eatest name in history, at the head of ten members from 
the Conmions, united with five from the House of Lords, 
was charged with the safety of the kingdom, the defence of 
the Parliament, the preservation of peace, and the resist- 
ance by force, of any force that might be used on the part 
of the King. Seven years afterwards, on the 29th of Jan- 
uary, IG-iO, the warrant for the execution of Charles 
Stuakt, Iving of England, L-eland, and Scotland, was signed 
by fifty-nine commissioners under the presidency of that 
illustrious John Bradshaw, of whom Milton said that he 
so demeaned himself always as if he was sitting in judg- 
ment upon a King ; and the next day at one o'clock, the 
head of Charles the First, rolled upon the scallbld in fi-ont 
of his Palace of White Hall. They who did this deed, 



58 

were our lineal ancestors — and the true founders of all ex- 
isting freedom, public and personal. And I this day, in the 
name of God and of true and regulated liberty everywhere 
under heaven, avouch then- gi'cat deed, and magnify their 
sacred names ! 

On the fourth day of July, 1776, eighty-one years ago 
this day, another free nation was born. On that day fifty 
five Representatives of the United States of America, met 
in the city of Philadelpliia, adopted and issued our immor- 
tal Declaration of Independence. After a war of seven 
years, George the Thiiil, King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, by solemn treaty confirmed by 
the Contuiental CongTess on the 14th day of January, 
1783, recognized the dismemberment of his empire, and 
the erection in this new world of that majestic nation which 
is ours this day. These were our immediate ancestors : 
perhaps greater, at least more fortunate than theii' heroic 
predecessors. These were they who, having conquered ty- 
rants, forgave them : who, having won and established free- 
dom, sat down in mutual trust and common brotherhood, 
beneath its hallowed shade. 

Now here are we — the children of the English Common- 
wealth, — the cliildren of the American Revolution, — the 
inheritors of all that wisdom and courage could wrest fi'om 
tyrants and fi'om fortune, in the two most fruitful struggles 
which history records. Here are we, more than two centu- 
ries beyond the point at which our liberties Avere baptized 
in the blood of Ha:mpden — a century and a quarter beyond 
that where Washington commenced the most glorious life in 
History. Here is our country — gi-eat^ — free — united — 
invincible. What have we to say this day, to the shades 
of our mighty ancestors, — what to the teeming generations 
who are to foUow us ? Oh ! my countrymen, may I not 



59 

dare to respond from the bosom of such solemnities as 
these — iu the spirit and from the very presence of our 
mighty dead — may I not dare in your name, proudly and 
fninly to res[>on(l, after a fashion hke this : We are the in- 
heritors of personal freedom, of national indei)endence, of 
country still united. We intend, God helj)ing us, to 
transmit the sacred treasure to our children's children, un- 
diminished and without a blot We love the memory of 
our fathers : we cherish the deeds of our gi'eat ancestors : 
we know the day of our visitation : we intend to be faith- 
ful in our lot — just to ihe glorious Past — ti'ue to the still 
more glorious Future ! This day, in the hearing of heaven 
and earth, and to the farthest limits of time and space that 
our vow can reach, we consecrate ourselves and our poster- 
ity, and we mean that the very work in which we are en- 
gaged shall attest the completeness and sincerity of that 
consecration, — to the Freedom, the Independence^ and the 
Union of our Country ! 



W 73 



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